Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Topical Issues matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar.

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. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities own resources and are supplemented by State road grants.

There have been large reductions in roads expenditure over the past number of years and there will be further reductions in the next number of years. In contrast with the figure for 2007, for example, when grants of €607 million were made available towards regional and local roads, in 2013 these grants have fallen to €350 million or almost half. Given the current financial position, the main focus must be on the maintenance and repair of the roads in which we have already heavily invested and this will remain the position in the coming years.

In this regard, it should be noted that the initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority. In July of last year, local authorities were invited to submit applications for consideration for funding in 2013 under the specific improvement grants scheme. Laois County Council applied for funding for 11 projects under this grant category but the Portlaoise southern circular road was not among the projects selected for funding in 2013.

The specific improvement grants scheme is being suspended from 2014 onward in order to maximise the funding available for repair and strengthening work. In lieu of the specific improvement grant programme, applications will be sought in mid-2013 for minor bridge repair works, which is a subset of the current specific grant programme, for 2014. This is in line with focusing funding on road and bridge maintenance and strengthening.

The reality of the funding position means that in all areas of activity priorities must be set. Given the current financial position, it has been necessary to reduce the grant allocations for major new road schemes and for major realignment schemes. The main focus must be on the maintenance and repair of roads and this will remain the position in the coming years. The small amount of funding available for major schemes will focus on projects already under construction or to which the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is already committed.

It is appreciated that many local authorities are trying to implement savings, but it is also important to re-iterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement local authorities such as Laois County Council in their spending in this area. The reality is that the available funds do not match the amount of work required. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and local authorities are working closely to develop new more efficient ways of delivering the best outputs possible with the funding available to them. Given the likely continued squeeze on Exchequer funding, this concentration on efficiency is essential to achieve the best outturns for the limited funding available.

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