I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, regrets that he is unable to be present in the Seanad this evening to reply and he has asked me to do so on his behalf. The subject of this motion has already been raised by Minister Dempsey with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Smith, and the Minister of State, Deputy Davern. The Minister has also discussed the matter with the chairman of Tipperary South Riding County Council. The Minister indicated he would be willing to address a meeting of the county council on Friday, 24 October, and in this context would address the subject of this motion.
Responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of non-national roads is a matter for local authorities, to be funded from their own resources, supplemented by State grants provided by the Department of Environment and Local Government. Furthermore, local authorities are regularly reminded that the cost of remedial works arising as a result of flooding and storm damage must be met from the combined annual State grant and own resources provision and that they should provide a contingency sum from these sources to finance road and bridge restoration works which may be necessitated by severe weather conditions.
In this regard, Tipperary South Riding County Council was allocated a total sum of over £4.21 million by the Department of Environment and Local Government in 1997. This allocation represents an increase of 24 per cent on the 1996 payment figure. Taken with an estimated own resources figure of £1.4 million, this means that the council has over £5.6 million to expend on its non-national road works programme in 1997. While this is a considerable sum, I must point out that it would have been higher if the council had maintained or increased its own resources input. The £1.4 million to be provided by them this year is, in fact, 13 per cent less than the amount they provided in 1996. While it is appreciated that there are many financial demands being made on councils, this decrease is disappointing, especially when State grants have been increasing so dramatically and at a time when local authorities themselves are identifying the unsatisfactory state of many of our non-national roads as a major priority at local level.
As the House will be aware, State grants for non-national roads in 1997, including grants for the local improvements scheme, will amount to £177.815 million, an increase of £30.953 million or 21 per cent on the 1996 payments of £146.862 million. The 1996 payments were in turn up 17 per cent on the 1995 outturn of £125.948 million. State grants for non-national roads have increased, therefore, by 41 per cent since 1995. All local authorities have been asked to increase their own resources input at least in line with inflation. This is absolutely essential if we are to tackle the problem of restoring non-national roads.
The House will be aware of the Government's commitment as set out in the Action Programme for the Millennium to ensure increased funding for regional and county roads. The Minister intends to honour this commitment in full. In doing so, he does not want State grants to be used as a substitute for own resources. This would simply subvert the efforts being made by the Government to restore the network to an acceptable level. All local authorities, therefore, are expected to play their part and to do so in a realistic manner in the area of funding.
It can be confirmed to the House that a request has been received from Tipperary South Riding County Council seeking a sum of £704,600 to repair damaged roads. Further recent correspondence from the council now suggests that the total sum required is well in excess of this figure as additional bridge works are necessary. Notwithstanding the position outlined earlier, namely, that the council is responsible for dealing with these emergency works, and the disappointing position about the reduced own resources provision by Tipperary South Riding County Council in 1997, the House will be aware from questions answered in the Dáil — the latest just yesterday afternoon — that the Minister is prepared to have his Department examine requests from local authorities for assistance in cases of demonstrated emergency need. The request from the council is being examined in this context. I might add here that similar requests have also been received from a number of other local authorities.
However, apart from any limited funds which might become available for reallocation, all grant moneys for 1997 have now been allocated and there are no other funds available from which further grants could be made available to the council. As examination of the various requests is ongoing in the Department, I am not in a position tonight to indicate the outcome. However, I can assure the Senator that the request from the council will be considered and the council will be notified of the position in the near future.
