Paul McGrath
Ceist:70 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the appalling state of the minor and county roads in County Westmeath, he will provide extra capital to restore these roads to an acceptable standard.
Written Answers. - Roads Repairs.
Responsibility for undertaking any works on the network of non-national roads, including the provision of the necessary finance, is primarily a matter for the local authorities. County councils may use the discretionary grants for non-national roads paid by my Department to supplement expenditure from their own resources on regional and county roads. The discretionary block grants, apart from those for Dublin County Council, have been allocated strictly in proportion to the mileage of regional and county roads in the county.
The 1990 State road grants for Westmeath County Council amount to £11,161,000. The provision comprises £9,746,000 for national roads, and £1,415,000 for regional and county roads, including discretionary block grants amounting to £1,345,000, a regional road bridge strengthening grant of £20,000 and a discretionary grant of £50,000 for the repair of damage caused to public roads and bridges/culverts during the severe storms and flooding in February this year. Altogether, the 1990 discretionary grants to the local authority represent an increase of 41 per cent on the level of equivalent grants to the local authority for 1989.
I am satisfied that Westmeath County Council have received their fair share of the funds available to me for road grants in 1990. The 1990 road grant provisions have been fully allocated and there are no funds available at this time for additional road grants.