asked the Minister for the Environment the justification for the £10 million reduction in the road grant from the figures specified in the Government plan, Building on Reality, 1985-1987 in view of the stated Government policy of a need to invest in road construction.
Written Answers. - Road Grant.
31.
In 1985, State road grants totalling £153.5 million were made available to local authorities — £126 million for road improvements and £27.5 million for road maintenance. The amount provided for improvement works was £1 million more than the figure in the new road plan, while the maintenance allocation was exactly on target. In 1986, local authorities will receive £159.7 million in State road grants. The figure for maintenance will be exactly on target at £29.7 million, while the improvement figure of £130 million will be £10 million less than the figure in the new road plan. The block grant allocation for 1986, combining both improvement and maintenance elements, will be £20.42 million, an increase of 21 per cent on 1985.
Over the two years 1985 and 1986, I will have provided 97 per cent of the funding promised for road development in the new road plan. In the first two years of the road development plan for the eighties the then Government provided 73 per cent of the funding projected in that plan. The total allocations for 1985 and 1986 are 3 per cent greater in real terms than those projected in the 1979 plan and the 1986 allocation alone is 25 per cent greater in real terms than the funds provided for roads by the previous Government in their last year in office in 1982. This demonstrates the Government's continuing commitment to road development. I am satisfied that the reduction will not significantly inhibit the implementation of the programme of major road improvement projects set out in the road plan. Planning for 1987 is proceeding on the basis of that plan.
In addition to the allocations I have already mentioned, the Taoiseach announced recently the allocation of £6 million for roads in the west Cork area for the period 1986-89 under the special aid package for that area.