Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

​The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of local authorities in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on such roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded from these moneys is a matter for each local authority. Under the strategic grant scheme introduced in 2000 to facilitate housing and other development my Department did provide grant assistance to Cork County Council in relation to road improvements at Clarke's Hill. This grant commitment concluded in 2015. Given the cutbacks in State funding for regional and local roads since the financial crisis, it has been necessary to curtail the grant programme for major new regional and local road schemes and for major realignment schemes in order to protect the funding available for the maintenance of the existing network. In this context my Department is not operating an annual application process under these schemes and does not have applications in relation to projects at Clarke's Hill or Coach Hill in Cork.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, together with the Minister for housing, planning, community and local government, has announced the establishment of a local infrastructure housing activation fund of €150 million, to be matched by €50 million in local authority funding, to relieve critical access and support infrastructural blockages and enable the delivery of large-scale housing on key development sites, with the potential to open up lands and deliver a significant level of new housing in Dublin and other urban areas. Once details of the arrangements relating to the fund are finalised and a call for proposals issues later this year, it is open to local authorities, including Cork County Council, to consider submitting a bid proposal to access such funding for suitable projects.

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