Vol. 414 No. 4
153 Mr. Hyland asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the urgent need to provide (1) an inner relief road in Mountmellick, County Laois, funding for which has been sought by Laois County Council (2) sewerage improvements and (3) new footpaths; and when money will be allocated for these projects in view of the fact that this town has not received its fair share of development funds in recent years.
Laois County Council have submitted a preliminary proposal for the construction of an inner relief road in Mountmellick, along the route of national secondary road N80, and discussions regarding the proposal are taking place between the local authority and my Department. Subject to the outcome of these discussions, and without prejudice to any statutory procedures that may arise, funding for the project would have to be considered in the context of the funds available for improvements on national secondary roads generally and the competing demands for such funds.
The cost of works on footpaths in Mountmellick falls to be met, in the case of the N80 from the local authority's maintenance grant for national secondary roads and, in the case of non-national roads, from the authority's own resources, supplemented by the discretionary road grants provided annually by my Department. In 1991, the maintenance grants for national secondary roads to Laois County Council amount to £166,000 and discretionary road grants to the council amounted to £1,745,000. It is a matter for the council to settle the allocation of these grants to particular works.
The submission of a revised preliminary report for the proposed Mountmellick sewerage scheme, based on the results of a survey of the existing sewer which has recently been completed, is awaited in my Department.
