Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

My constituency is in the heart of Ireland and to get anywhere one has to go through it, hence the motorway.

I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, and I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to address this issue in the House. The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Work on those roads is funded from local authorities own resources, supplemented by State road grants paid by my Department. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for local authorities.

My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, announced the 2012 regional and local road grant allocations on 30 January 2012. This year, a total of €379 million is being provided under the regional and local roads investment programme. From that allocation, Cork County Council has been provided with an allocation of €45.3 million.

The level of grants allocated to individual local authorities is determined having regard to a number of factors. These factors include the total funds available in a particular year, eligibility criteria for the different road grant schemes, road pavement conditions, length of road network, the need to prioritise projects and competing demands from other local authorities. In determining the annual grant allocation, the overall objective remains to supplement the resources provided by each local authority in a fair and appropriate manner.

In November 2011, Cork County Council wrote to my Department seeking funding for the Bantry relief road as a strategic regional and local road scheme. This stream of grants was introduced in 2006 to cater for schemes that make a significant contribution towards the aims of the national spatial strategy. The council informed my Department that this project could be broken into two phases, phase 1 had received Part 8 planning approval and that the compulsory purchase order for this phase had been published and confirmed.

My Department replied to the council on 23 November 2011 requesting it to complete the appropriate application form in order for the project to be given full consideration. To date this application form has not been returned by the council. It should be noted that the funding available for projects under the strategic regional and local roads programme in 2012 is just €20 million, down from €87 million in 2008. This will of necessity restrict the funding for new projects with priority being given to projects already committed to.

As I stated, primary responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads rests with local authorities. State grants are intended to supplement realistic contributions by local authorities from their own resources and it is open to Cork County Council to progress the project through its own resources should it wish to do so. The 2012 regional and local road grants have now been fully allocated and there are no further funds available from which an allocation for this project could be made.

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