asked the Minister for the Environment the total amount of funds available to Kildare County Council for the purpose of maintaining and improving main and county roads, excluding any funding which his Department might have specifically allocated to individual projects; if he has received communication from Kildare County Council giving the full extent of the main and county road financial requirements for the current year; his views on whether sufficient funding is available in the current year for the maintenance of such roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - County Kildare Road Improvements.
156.
The cost of works on main and county roads falls to be financed by a combination of State road grants and local resources. The relevant State grants are the block grant, county road strengthening grant and special improvement grants. In the case of Kildare County Council, the grants allocated under these headings in 1988 are £374,000, £315,000 and £515,000 respectively. The local authority has considerable discretion regarding the distribution of the block grant and the county road strengthening grant.
I understand that the estimates adopted by the local authority for 1988 provided for an expenditure of £1.187 million on main and county roads from local resources. The question of the sufficiency of this provision, which was determined subsequent to the notification of State road grants for the year, is a matter for the local authority.
Detailed information has been received from all county councils, in response to a departmental circular, issued in May 1987, about the condition of the network of county roads together with estimates of the level of investment required to remedy deficiencies in the network. This information is being considered in the context of the preparation of a blueprint for road development which I intend to publish within the next few months. The blueprint will address the question of the long term needs of the entire system of public roads, including the networks of county and main roads.