Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Jan 1996

Vol. 460 No. 5

Written Answers. - Louth Roads Funding.

Dermot Ahern

Ceist:

47 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment the funding earmarked to County Louth for roads under the Operational Programme during the five years ending 1999; the mileage of roads County Louth has as a percentage of the total national figure under the headings national primary, national secondary and non-national roads; the allocation to the County under each heading and the way in which this compares from a national percentage point of view with the percentages of mileage of County Louth, national primary, national secondary and non-national roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1663/96]

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Howlin)

The Operational Programme for Transport, 1994-99, maps out the strategy for transport infrastructure development for the period of the programme and includes tables of projected annual expenditure by measure and an indicative list of major projects. The programme does not, however, provide expenditure projections in respect of individual areas.

The extent of the road network in County Louth, including a comparison with the overall network in respect of each category of road, is as follows:

Description	National Primary	National Secondary	Non-National
Overall network	2,740 Km	2,700 Km	90,400 Km
Network in Co. Louth	74.2 Km	49.4 Km	1,327 Km
Louth as % of total	2.7%	1.8%	1.5%

Total Exchequer grants paid to County Louth in 1995 for non-national roads was £1,913,950 or 1.5 per cent of the total grants for such roads allocated in the year.

The allocation of grants in respect of national roads is a matter for the National Roads Authority; allocations to a county can vary substantially under this heading from year to year, depending on the number and scale of the improvement projects under way in the county.