Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, as set out in the Roads Acts 1993 to 2015. The key element of TII’s funding structure for national roads is the provision of Exchequer grants by the Minister to both its current and capital expenditure as set out in section 24 of the Act. Capital expenditure grants are provided from my Department’s national development plan allocations and this year alone over €600 million has been allocated to TII for national roads. The national development plan sets out a detailed list of national roads projects and notes those projects are subject to further approvals and prioritisation in accordance with relevant commitments and strategies.

The Deputy is likely to be aware that section 19(2) of the Roads Act 1993 requires that TII works closely with the relevant road authority. Therefore, upon receipt of its overall allocation, TII in turn provides allocations to the local authorities in their role as the relevant road authority. In terms of the public spending code, TII is the approving authority and the local authority is the designated sponsoring agency. As part of its role as approving authority, TII monitors project delivery programmes and expenditure during the year in question in order to maximise delivery and spend across the programme. Once funding is put in place as part of the annual budget process, Exchequer funding is drawn down by TII through the submission of invoices to the Department of Transport on a regular basis. Robust procedures are in place to ensure that expenditure can be attributed to individual projects. Regular meetings take place between the Department and TII on the roads programme throughout the year.

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