Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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100. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when funding will be made available for key infrastructure projects in County Donegal including a new bridge at Cockhill, Buncrana, County Donegal along the R238 Cockhill Road, the Bonagee Link Road and the Lifford Letterkenny road; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7795/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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When will funding be made available for key infrastructural projects in County Donegal, including a new bridge at Cockhill, Buncrana, along the R238 Cockhill Road, the Bonagee link road and the Lifford-Letterkenny road? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The planning, design and implementation of national road projects are matters for the National Roads Authority in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.  The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads are the statutory responsibility of each local authority, funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants.

I understand the preferred route has been selected for the proposed N56 Letterkenny relief road which encompasses the Bonagree relief road. However, given the reduced level of funding available for major schemes such as this, it is not possible to provide any additional funding at this time to enable the scheme to progress further.

As regards the N14 Letterkenny to Lifford scheme, I have been advised that Donegal County Council was allocated €300,000 in 2013 to review and update the design of the scheme.  A further €50,000 has been provided in 2014 for the N14-N15 to A5 link element of the scheme to allow for the closing out of the statutory processes.

Donegal County Council applied to the Department in 2010 for funding under the specific improvement grants scheme for funds for the Cockhill bridge scheme. The projected cost of the project was €2.95 million. Given the costs associated with the project, it was not possible to approve this application and no further formal funding application has since been received by my Department. Given the need to prioritise funding for repair and strenghtening works, the specific improvement grants scheme has been curtailed in 2014. While provision was made for bridge repair and rehabilitation works in 2014, I understand the Cockhill bridge proposal as submitted in 2010 is outside the scope of such works as it involves major widening works.

It is important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grant aid is to supplement councils' own resource spending on regional and local roads.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. As he will no doubt be well aware, local authorities have limited funds and depend to a large extent on the Government to progress projects such as the Cockhill bridge scheme. The funding he provides just about allows local authorities to keep up with maintenance, but specific funds from central government must be allocated for projects such as the one referred to in Buncrana. The problem with this project has been ongoing for many years. It is a project that should have been undertaken in the past, but, equally, it is one that needs to be completed now. I ask the Minister to give me an indication as to when we can expect to see funds provided of the nature needed to ensure for the people of Buncrana a major artery to the Innishowen Peninsula can be provided.

Regarding the Letterkenny-Lifford link road, does the Minister see potential in terms of the provision of funding in 2015 and 2016 in respect of that allocated for the A5? Does he envisage some of that funding being spent on improving the Letterkenny to Lifford link road?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right. Local authorities are strapped for cash but so is central government. The cutback in funding for roads has been dramatic. The cutback in the National Roads Authority's budget is nearly 80% from its peak. This has been done to protect front-line services such as health, education, the Garda and others. As a result, all we are able to do this year, where something is not a public private partnership, is maintenance and repair work. If I get extra money, I can reconsider this but without extra money, I cannot. To give the Deputy an indication of what it means, the amount of money going to Donegal County Council from my Department for the repair and maintenance of roads in the county is €18.5 million which is a lot of money, but if I was to take €3 million from that figure for the bridge he proposes - it would not come from something else - it would amount to a 20% cut in the maintenance budget for the rest of the county. That would not be the right decision for County Donegal. Money is finite and there is no pot of unallocated moneys. If I did put money towards new bridges, I would have to take it from the funding for maintenance works. Therefore, to build this one bridge in County Donegal, we would have to cut the maintenance budget for the entire county by 20%, which would not be a good idea.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has already cut the money for County Donegal by a very significant margin. In the past two years we have seen it decrease. If he could give an assurance that he would not reduce funding to the level to which it has been cut, he might be in a position to proceed with some of the projects mentioned. I know the national finances are in a difficult position, but, equally, there are significant projects that need to be progressed. It is important that people are given a timeline to allow them to look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition. I ask the Minister to consider providing a fund to deal with specific major infrastructural projects similar to the three I have outlined. It simply cannot be done with the funding he is giving which is essential to maintain the current road network.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will be blunt. The reason we have had to cut back on road spending so much is that the economy crashed under the watch of the Deputy's party.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister can do better than that.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I would love to be able to look into a crystal ball and tell the Deputy when we will be able to undo the damage his party did. I cannot do that, but if there are signs in the economy, they are that a slow recovery is under way. I hope that in next year's budget we will see an increase in funding for roads. I cannot guarantee this, but that is what I am fighting for.