Vol. 497 No. 7
155 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when he will allocate the necessary funds to Kildare County Council to carry out the realignment of Bond Bridge, Maynooth, County Kildare; if his attention has been drawn to the urgency of this case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26262/98]
In April 1998, my Department approved the proposal of Kildare County Council to raise a loan of £1.5 million to fund a reconstruction project on Bond Bridge, Maynooth. I understand that the project is now at the design stage.
156 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has received proposals from Kildare County Council to realign Cope Bridge, Leixlip, County Kildare; if he will allocate the necessary funds for this work in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26263/98]
The maintenance and improvement of non-national roads and bridges in their area, is a matter for Kildare County Council, to be funded from their own resources, supplemented by State grants or in future, by the allocation from the local government fund. The initial selection and prioritisation of works — projects to which the various categories of non-national road grants, including EU co-financed grants, should be applied is also a matter for Kildare County Council.
Kildare County Council recently submitted six proposals to my Department for funding, totalling approximately £2.5 million, in 1999 under the EU co-financed scheme of grants. These did not include an application for funding for the Cope Bridge project, Leixlip.
