Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I would not disagree with the Deputy that now is a key time for effecting road works. Between now and the middle of the summer is usually the best time of the year for this. The local authorities will know their final allocations and any changes to those allocations following the budget next Tuesday, so they will not have to wait too long. We are spending almost €2 billion on capital projects. Under this new system, the Minister for Finance has already sanctioned €143 million — at my request — for regional and local roads to ensure that local authorities could start their work for this time of the year.

There will be no undue delay after 7 April. I will not waste any time getting the information out to the local authorities about whatever money is in the local and regional roads budget or with the NRA for the national roads.

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