Robert Troy
Question:140. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport if he will ensure adequate road maintenance funding is in place in Budget 2024 to ensure the safety of roads for road users. [41323/23]
View answerTuesday, 26 September 2023
Questions (140)
Written answers
The 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.
The regional and local road grant allocations are finalised following the publication of the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) and take into account the expenditure outturn on projects and programmes in the preceding year. At this current time, the REV has yet to be finalised.
My objective will be to allocate funding to eligible local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible taking the length of the road network and traffic factors into account. The main focus of the grants will continue to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network.
With regards to National Roads, as Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the operation, management and maintenance of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an exchequer allocation of circa €2.9 billion for the Protection and Renewal of existing national roads over the 10-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade. I have allocated €254m for Protection and Renewal for 2023 while the budget process for next year is still ongoing.