Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Mar 1999

Vol. 502 No. 6

Written Answers. - Roads Funding.

John Perry

Ceist:

228 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the disastrous condition which exists on class three roads in County Sligo; the plans, if any, he has to allocate funding for class three roads; the amount of money allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8716/99]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey)

The maintenance and improvement of all classes of non-national roads in their areas is a matter for the road authorities, to be funded from their own resources supplemented by allocations from the Local Government Fund.

Significantly increased financing has been made available in recent years aimed at systematically improving our non-national roads. I have allocated over £237 million for non-national roads in 1999, an increase of over £37 million or nearly 19 per cent on the original 1998 allocation figure of almost £200 million, which was in itself a record.

This figure included £138 million for the restoration programme, an increase of over £20 million on last year's restoration programme allocation, which is firm evidence of the Government's commitment to completing the restoration programme on schedule by 2005.

This year's non-national road grant allocation also includes discretionary grants to county councils of approximately £23 million and EU co-financed grants to county councils of almost £39 million.

Sligo County Council's share of this year's greatly enhanced funding is £5,249,000, an increase of 15 per cent on 1998 payment figure of £4,568,154 and an increase of 26 per cent on the 1997 payment figure of £4,168,000. The initial selection/prioritisation of projects to be assisted from the various grant categories is a matter for Sligo County Council.

The details of Sligo County Council's non-national roads grants from 1995 to 1999 are as follows:

Year	Grant Payment
	£
1995	2,355,443
1996	2,573,000
1997	4,168,000
1998	4,568,154
1999 (Allocation)	5,249,000