Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Cairns for the opportunity to address this matter in the House. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, who is also in the Department of Transport.

It is important to note the Government is funding active travel at an unprecedented scale. It has allocated €460 million per annum to support infrastructure that makes walking and cycling safer and more attractive for journeys to work and school and for all types of journeys all over the country. Much of this work will lead, as a by-product, to the calming of motorised traffic. Narrowing roads, installing cycle tracks, whether fully or partially segregated, contra-flow cycling routes and one-way systems for vehicular traffic can all play a part in slowing down traffic, thus making it safer for those walking, wheeling and cycling in our cities, towns and villages. As part of that funding, we are also specifically supporting the safe routes to schools programme, which was opened to all schools to apply to for funding. Unfortunately, it seems no application was made by the school in Drimoleague for this funding support. There is a special scheme for schools regarding safe routes to schools and it appears the school did not submit an application to the Department under that scheme.

Funding is generally not the issue it was in previous years given the level of funding we are making available. Through the National Transport Authority, funding of more than €20 million was allocated to Cork County Council earlier this year. This shows the commitment of the Government to supporting active travel in County Cork. I understand from the National Transport Authority that an application was made by Cork County Council to support works in Drimoleague but given the sheer volume of applications for funding made by Cork County Council, it was determined the work would be progressed in the future rather than in the first phase of projects in this calendar year. An exceptionally high number of applications were received from Cork and these need to be assessed with a view to having a clear line of projects in place for the coming year. I further understand a number of projects completed in Drimoleague in recent times were funded through various schemes, including CLÁR and the National Transport Authority.

Active travel funding is not the only funding available to address the issues identified in Drimoleague. There is also the safety improvement scheme. It must be remembered the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads are the statutory responsibility of each local authority in accordance with the provisions of the Roads Act 1993. Works on these roads are funded from local authorities' own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded are also a matter for the local authority.

Local authorities can apply under the Department's regional and local road grant programme for funding for safety works. Applications for funding of lower cost improvement works under the Department's safety improvement scheme are invited in order of priority on an annual basis for consideration for funding in the subsequent year. In submitting projects for consideration, local authorities are required to set out the collision history of the works site and outline how the proposed project would reduce accidents or address a hazard. Individual projects costing in excess of €200,000 are outside the scope of this scheme and fall to be considered under the specific improvement grant scheme. To date, I understand no application under the safety improvement grant scheme has been received from Cork County Council for works in Drimoleague.

Essentially, I have announced four or five, or perhaps five or six, different streams of funding available across Departments. Under some of those headings, applications have not been submitted to date. There is an opportunity, especially for the school, to submit an application to the local authority, but no application has been received by the Department at this stage.

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