asked the Minister for the Environment when funding will be made available to Dublin County Council to enable it to carry out road works already approved in principle by his Department on the Ballycullen and Knocklyon roads and for Phase 3 of the Firhouse road improvement scheme which roads are currently inadequate to meet the level of traffic resulting from the large increase in population in the general area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - County Dublin Road Works.
46.
The cost of works on non-national roads, including Ballycullen, Knocklyon and Firhouse Roads, normally falls to be financed from local resources supplemented by the discretionary grants provided by my Department for such roads. In 1989, Dublin County Council have been allocated a discretionary grant of £1 million for the improvement of non-national roads. The selection of works to be undertaken with this grant is a matter for the local authority.
The notification sent to the local authority, in 1987, that the Department had no objection on engineering grounds to their proposals for the improvement of Ballycullen Road and Knocklyon Road was stated to be without prejudice to any statutory procedures that might arise and without commitment to provide road grant assistance. The Department understand that the proposed works on these roads are consequential on the proposals now being developed by the local authority for the proposed southern cross route. Because of my position in relation to the statutory procedures involved, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the timing and financing of such works. Special grants are occasionally made available to local authorities for improvement projects on non-national roads. In the case of the Firhouse Road, special grants totalling about £1.6 million, including £260,000 in the current year, have been provided by the Department to meet expenditure on phases 1 and 2 of the project. Detailed proposals for phase 3 of the project have not been received in the Department.