Vol. 495 No. 7
513 Mr. Cosgrave asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the up-to-date position regarding the Grange Road, Baldoyle-Grange Abbey Road improvement scheme; the amount of money he is providing to Dublin Corporation and Fingal County Council to carry out these works; the programme to carry out these works; when this new road at Grange Abbey will be connected to the M50; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21787/98]
520 Mr. Cosgrave asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the up-to-date position regarding the Grange Road, Baldoyle-Grange Abbey Road improvement scheme; the amount of money he is providing to Dublin Corporation and Fingal County Council to carry out these works; if he will announce the programme to carry out these works; when this new road at Grange Abbey will be connected to the M50; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21804/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 513 and 520 together.
Dublin Corporation, who by agreement with Fingal County Council are acting as lead authority for this project, are currently assessing tenders for the scheme. The contract covers the construction of 1.2 km of urban single carriageway road from the existing Ayrfield-Hole-in-the-wall Road to the Baldoyle Industrial Estate, including a roundabout and a bridge over the Dublin-Belfast railway line. The corporation expect construction to start shortly and it is expected that it will take 56 weeks to complete the works. When completed the road will connect to the existing road linking the Grange Road to the M1-M50 interchange.
The corporation were allocated £1 million in February 1998 towards the project under the EU co-financed grants scheme. Subsequently in July 1998, the corporation requested my Department's approval to the transfer of £275,000 of this allocation to another project. This was agreed, thus reducing the Grange Road allocation to £725,000 in 1998. The corporation has recently submitted three proposals to my Department for funding totalling £4.07 million in 1999 under the EU scheme. These proposals include an application for further funding of £3.52 million for the Grange Road, Baldoyle project.
This application, together with all other applications under the EU co-financed scheme, is currently under consideration in my Department. Decisions in relation to the selection of projects for funding in 1999 will be made as soon as possible.
