Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Apr 1991

Vol. 407 No. 1

Written Answers. - Tipperary Road Expenditure.

Theresa Ahearn

Ceist:

236 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for the Environment if he will outline (a) the moneys which have been spent to date and (b) the moneys he intends to allocate for 1991 for (1) Cashel/Tipperary Road, (2) Clonmel Ring Road and (3) Clonmel/Fethard Road; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Flynn)

A total of £3.322 million has been allocated to South Tipperary County Council in 1991 for national (£1,490,000) and non-national (£1,832,000) roads.

N74 Cashel/Tipperary Road: Road grant payments for works on this road since 1978 total £801,000 and the 1991 allocation is £60,000. A further £50,000 has been allocated in respect of national secondary road black spot improvement works and it is a matter for the local authority to decide if part of this allocation will go towards works on the N.74. The council have been asked to prepare and submit to my Department for consideration sight distance improvement schemes for the worst affected sections of this road. The council's proposals are awaited.

N24 Clonmel Relief Road: Phase I of this scheme was opened to traffic in 1986. Phase II has been included in the operational programme on peripherality for construction during the period 1992 — 1994 at an estimated cost of £4.6 million (1989 prices). Total road grants provided to date amount to £1.491 million including an allocation of £100,000 in 1991 in respect of design work and site investigation on Phase II.

Clonmel/Fethard Road R687: Responsibility for the planning and development of works on non-national routes such as the Clonmel/Fethard road is a matter for South Tipperary County Council. The local authority may use the discretionary grants for roads paid annually by my Department to supplement expenditure from their own resources on such works. The discretionary grants to Tipperary (SR) County Council this year amount to £1,927,000.

In the period 1988-89 my Department, as an exceptional measure, allocated a total of £147,000 in special road grants as a contribution towards costs incurred by the local authority on improvement works at this location. Proposals for additional works on this road have been received in the Department and the local authority were informed on 12 April 1991 that there are no further funds at my disposal from which a special grant could be made.