Vol. 499 No. 2
31 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has satisfied himself with the condition of non-national roads; the proposals, if any, he has to address the immediate problems faced by many county councils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2061/99]
41 Ms McManus asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans, if any, he has to deal with the deteriorating conditions of many roads and the reappearance of potholes, many of which are reported to be damaging cars and causing accidents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2049/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 31 and 41 together.
There has been a significantly increased commitment of State expenditure in recent years aimed at systematically improving our non-national roads. Total State allocations for non-national roads increased by 18 per cent in 1998 over 1997 (in relation to initial year allocations). For 1999, a total of over £237 million in non-national road grants will be provided, mainly through the new local government fund, which I have established; this will represent a further annual increase of almost 19 per cent.
The Government is committed to ensuring sufficient resources to enable the restoration programme to be completed over the ten years originally envisaged. As firm evidence of this commitment, I provided over £118 million in restoration grants in 1998 as compared with £93.3 million in 1997. This has accelerated the programme and has allowed county councils to undertake almost 90 per cent of their 1999 restoration improvement schemes in 1998. During 1998 approximately 5,800 road schemes were financed across the country, with some 8,700 kms of road benefiting from the expenditure involved. Since mid 1995, when the restoration programme was launched, to the end of 1998 about 15,400 schemes were completed with approximately over 24,300 kilometres or almost 28 per cent of the county council network benefiting.
In addition to restoration programme grants my Department allocated nearly £52 million to local authorities in 1998 under the various EU co-funded schemes of grants and almost £30 million to local authorities in discretionary grants.
