Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023
121. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Transport to increase the discretionary roads funding from his Department to local authorities to meet the increasing cost of inflation to enable them to continue their daily road maintenance duties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40224/23]
View answerThe improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources supplemented by State road grants.
Within the budget available for regional and local roads, the primary focus of investment is on the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network. The total allocated at the start of this year for regional and local roads was €626 million compared to €607 million in 2022.
In recognition of the fact that cost inflation is having a significant impact on the cost of delivering regional and local road annual programmes, local authorities were notified on 3rd July of a supplementary allocation of €22.5 million for their key road strengthening programmes.
