Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Under the Roads Act 1993, the maintenance of roads, including winter maintenance, is a statutory function of each individual road authority. This work is funded out of each authority's own resources, supplemented in the case of regional and local roads by discretionary and block grants allocated annually by my Department. In the case of national roads, funding for maintenance, which includes the gritting of roads and other safety-related work in winter, is provided by my Department to the National Roads Authority which allocates it among the local authorities.

Local authorities are advised that they should set aside contingency sums from these resources to finance works necessitated by severe weather conditions. In 2008, the total discretionary maintenance grant allocated to county councils by my Department was €29.56 million and the total block grant allocated to urban authorities was €16.133 million. The maintenance grant by my Department to the NRA for allocation to local authorities in 2008 was €58.21 million. This includes provision for winter maintenance, forecasting and monitoring of weather conditions.

Local authorities are regularly reminded by my Department of their responsibilities in relation to winter maintenance of roads. During 2008, the matter was brought to the attention of local authorities on 5 February and again on 10 December.

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