Vol. 400 No. 3
111 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment the present position regarding the road and bridge improvements required at Bond Bridge, Maynooth, County Kildare; if the project will be funded in 1991; if his attention has been drawn to the urgent necessity to allow the project to proceed, having particular regard to escalating costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As Bond Bridge is located on a regional road, primary responsibility for the proposed project rests with the local authority, Kildare County Council. The cost of such works normally falls to be financed from local resources supplemented by the discretionary grants provided by my Department for such roads. In the case of Kildare County Council, these grants total £2,001,000 including a supplementary grant of £700,000 for improvement works because of the special needs of the county. The 1990 allocation compares with expenditure of £954,000 in 1989. The determination of priorities in the expenditure of these grants is a matter for the local authority.
The local authority's consultants have prepared preliminary design and a cost estimate of £624,000 for a scheme involving improvements to Bond Bridge and the nearby railway bridge and the improvement of the immediate approach roads. The authority have requested special road grant assistance for this scheme. I am not in a position to accede to this request in 1990. The question of special road grant funding to meet an appropriate share of any costs arising on the scheme in 1991 will be considered when the road grant allocations for next year are being determined.
