asked the Minister for the Environment, with regard to the bridge across the main Dublin to Belfast railway line, beside Baldoyle Industrial Estate, Grange Road, Baldoyle, Dublin 13, if (a) he has received a proposal from Dublin County Council to widen this bridge, (b) if Iarnród Éireann have requested his Department to make finance available to have the bridge widened and (c) if it is the intention of his Department to make finance available and to instruct Dublin County Council and Iarnród Éireann to carry out widening of this bridge; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Dublin Railway Bridge.
164.
In June 1984, Dublin County Council submitted proposals to my Department for the provision of a new link road between Grange Road, Donaghmede and the railway bridge at Baldoyle, together with the widening of the railway bridge and the improvement of Grange Road, Baldoyle. The road/bridge are not located on a national road. The local authority was informed at the time that special Exchequer finances would not be provided for the scheme and that the cost of the works would fall to be financed from the local authority's own resources.
Following the revision of the Dublin city boundary in 1986, the Grange Abbey estate was transferred to the functional area of Dublin Corporation. On 1 March 1988, the corporation submitted to the Department outline proposals for road improvement works including the provision of a new bridge at Baldoyle to be located partly in the city area and partly in the county area.
The Department have had no communication from Iarnród Éireann in this matter.
The local authorities may, at their discretion, use the block grant for roads paid annually by the Department to supplement expenditure from their own resources on such works. Block grants totalling £3.969 million were recently notified to Dublin County Council and Dublin Corporation for 1990.
Because of competing demands for other important road schemes in the country, I do not propose to make special road grant assistance available to the local authorities in this case.