Vol. 441 No. 1
102 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment the steps, if any, he intends to take in regard to Donegal County Council where councillors have the option of taking £20,000 each from the roads maintenance budget to be spent at their discretion on projects nominated by them in view of his statement that all roads expenditure should be part of a strategic plan and the need for value for money; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Donegal County Council is responsible for the maintenance of regional and county roads in its area and the cost of such works falls to be financed by the Council from its own resources, supplemented by the grants provided by my Department. The Council's discretionary maintenance grant amounts to £653,000 in 1994. In addition, the Council has been allocated £1,074,000 as a supplementary maintenance grant to assist it in carrying out works arising from adverse weather conditions. I understand that the Council is providing £2,757,000 from its own resources for maintenance work in 1994. General guidelines on the nature of the works eligible to be financed from maintenance grants, on the importance of optimising the return from the investment involved, and on the considerations to be taken into account when preparing the programme of road works have been conveyed to local authorities. Subject to these guidelines, the authorities have a wide discretion in spending grants. In particular, it is a matter for them to select the individual roads on which maintenance works are to be carried out.
