Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo a ardú. I thank the Deputy for bringing the question forward. We were wandering the roads of Sligo together last Friday. I thank him for the hospitality shown to me last week.

I understand the Deputy’s question relates to the community involvement scheme which provides financial assistance to local communities for repairs and maintenance of local roads. As Deputy Feighan is aware and as outlined in the national development plan, the Government is strongly committed to protecting the existing regional and local road network. This network is fundamental for connecting people and places across the country. It facilitates business, education, tourism, healthcare, agriculture and the provision of critical services and activities. The network requires significant annual funding to ensure it remains fit for purpose, safe and resilient to the impact of additional factors such as climate change. As such, €626 million was allocated to regional and local road grants in 2023, with approximately 90% of this funding directed towards maintenance and renewal works. The regional and local road grants support local authorities in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities under the Roads Act 1993 to improve and maintain regional and local roads. The grants are provided to supplement local authorities' own resources, with each local authority responsible for selecting and prioritising road works within their regions and for managing their own budgets.

Ireland's regional and local road network spans over 96,000 km comprising almost 83,000 km of local roads. Due to the vast scale of the network, in 2018 the Department of Transport introduced ring-fenced funding for a community involvement scheme with the aim of facilitating local community participation in the repair of local roads. The primary focus of the programme is the repair of more lightly trafficked public roads which might not be high on the list of a local authority's annual roadwork programme. Since its introduction, the scheme has generated significant interest and has been used to support a variety of works including surface dressing projects, strengthening works, repair of potholes and drainage works. A condition of funding is that the local community must contribute towards the road project either with a monetary contribution or a contribution in kind, for example, by making labour or machinery available. Community contributions of at least 10% for monetary contributions or 20% for works contributions are required under the scheme. Typically, community work contributions involve activities such as providing hard stands at field entrances, removing grass verges, pothole repairs and the repair and construction of footpaths. In order to allow for sufficient planning and applications for the scheme, local authorities are invited to apply for funding for community involvement scheme projects for a two-year programme, with the latest round of applications received in 2023 for the 2024 to 2025 period. Within the overall budget available for the CIS grant programme over the two-year period, local authorities are allocated funding on a pro ratabasis unless an individual authority has sought less than the pro rataamount.

At this point, it is important to highlight that the Department has maintained a relatively constant level of funding for the scheme throughout its life span. On average, €28.33 million has been allocated to the scheme for each two-year programme. In the 2022 to 2023 programme, €28.48 million was allocated. Allocations for the 2024 to 2025 period are currently being finalised and are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

In summary, the Minister of Transport recognises the importance of the community involvement scheme to allow communities to access funds for repairs of more lightly trafficked public roads which might not be high on the list of a local authority's annual roadwork programme. In 2024, the Minister of Transport is committed to continuing support for the community involvement scheme, where possible from within resources available.

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