Vol. 490 No. 5
16 Ms Clune asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the percentage of the budget for road construction and road maintenance provided for road markings and signage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10511/98]
The National Roads Authority is responsible for the signage and delineation of the national roads network. The specific provision made by the NRA for these purposes in 1998 is £4.35 million or 1.5 per cent of the total budget for improvement and maintenance of national roads. The provision and maintenance of signage and road markings on non-national roads is funded from local authorities' resources and from the discretionary improvement and maintenance grants made available by my Department. As these expenditures are discretionary, subject only to general conditions and guidance set out in my Department's Memorandum on Grants for Non-national Roads, 1996-99, there is no specific information available in my Department on the amounts or percentages expended locally on road markings and signage. My Department's guidance, however, draws attention to the need to provide adequate traffic signs, including roadway markings, on non-national roads.
I raise this question because I am conscious of the poor quality of road signage and markings. A tourist guide book advises tourists not to trust Irish road markings and signs because there is no guarantee of where they will end up. This should not be treated as a joke because it is a reflection on Ireland, which has one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. We have visions of tourists looking at maps as they approach roundabouts and losing direction. Will the Minister carry out a national survey to find out the inadequacies of the present system compared to the system of our European partners? Will he make available adequate funding to local authorities to deal with this matter? I am particularly conscious of the quality of material used in signage, which was specified in the 1950s. That was adequate for roads in the 1960s and 1970s but it is not good enough today when there are wider carriageways and major roundabouts. The quality of road signage needs to be addressed.
The standards that apply are those set out in the traffic signs manual published in December 1996. That manual, which was circulated to all road authorities, provides a comprehensive guide to the provision of road signage. It gives full information on traffic signs and road markings and sets updated standards to ensure road users are given clear messages in good time. This is a serious matter where lives are at stake and I fully accept the Deputy's point. The traffic signs manual should be of specific interest to traffic engineers.
I accept the Deputy is probably referring more to non-national than national roads. In fairness to the National Roads Authority, which is often criticised in this House, it has had a good programme of signage and delineation in recent years. It has completed signage on the M1, M2, M13, M14 and M15 and has substantially completed signage on the N3, N4, N8, N9, N10, N11 and N25. Delineation is completed on the N1, N2, N3, N4, N8, N9, N10, N11, N13, N14, N15 and N25. The full programme on the national routes is scheduled for completion by the end of 1999. I accept there could be major improvements on non-national roads, but money for that work comes from the roads allocation provided to local authorities. Record grants of more than £200 million were provided this year, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year.
This is a matter to which local authorities should give greater attention. On foot of the Deputy's question I will issue a circular again asking them to put in place a plan to bring signage up to date within a reasonable period.
The specification of the National Roads Authority is substandard compared to that in Europe. The same quality signage is not used here. Is the Minister aware there is better quality signage available and will he consider that rather than the present specification which was introduced in 1950? Given that we will have a Euro route in the near future, will the signage on that route be of the same substandard quality?
It is not my information that the NRA is out of date or that its signage is inferior to that available on the Continent. It is up to date and follows the standards set down in 1996.
That is not the information available to me.
I commissioned the report.
I am not accusing the Deputy of saying anything wrong. I am not sure what the source of her information is. If it is an article in a travel magazine I would put a caveat on that. I would be horrified if 1950 standards were used today, but there is no evidence of that on the national routes.
Some local authorities use better quality material.
