Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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43. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22364/17]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Minister most sincerely for giving very generously of his time in coming to County Kerry recently. My question is in regard to roads in the county and local improvement schemes. This year, Kerry County Council has allocated €100,000. This will be enough to complete four roads. That is not good enough. Kerry County Council is only taking money from other funding to finance this. We want to see specific funding made available centrally and allocated to local authorities specifically for the local improvement schemes.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for his question and for hosting part of my trip around Kerry, when he showed me many of the roads to which his question alludes.

As the Deputy is aware, the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads including those in County Kerry is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources, supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for local authorities. Maintenance of laneways and roads not taken in charge by local authorities is the responsibility of the landowners concerned. Due to the major cutbacks in roads funding, it was necessary for my Department to cease making separate allocations to local authorities in respect of the local improvement scheme, LIS. The approved scheme remains intact and local authorities can use a proportion of State grant funding for LIS should they wish to do so. While there is a modest increase in funding for roads this year, it will take some years yet under the capital plan to restore steady-state funding levels for regional and local roads. The primary focus has to continue to be on the maintenance and renewal of public roads. All grant funding in respect of regional and local roads for 2017 has been allocated. In light of the provision in the programme for Government indicating that, as the economy recovers, the Government will promote increased funding for local improvement schemes, I will review the scope for making a separate grant allocation once the planned review of the capital plan is completed.

In respect of hedge cutting, section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 sets out the responsibility of landowners to take all reasonable steps to ensure that trees, hedges and other vegetation growing on their land are not, or could not become, a danger to people using a public road or interfere with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of a public road. This section also allows the relevant road authority to step in where a landowner fails or is unable to remedy a hazard. 

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. I am glad that he referred to the programme for Government. He and I, along with others, were there for every day of the negotiations to form this partnership Government. During those negotiations, I continually stated that the local improvement scheme grant should be reintroduced. What happened, happened. I am not in the business of looking backward; what I am interested in doing is looking forward.

The most important part of the road to a person's property is the part that leads up to it. An individual must use the latter before he or she can get onto any other road. Some people say that the local improvement schemes are not really all that important. They are actually of paramount importance.

My local authority, Kerry County Council, is an organisation that I am proud of and that does great work. The management, in conjunction with the excellent councillors, do great work in our county. However, they need funding. They need a specific local improvement scheme grant like what we had before, whereby every year we were able to do 40, 50 or 60 roads leading up to people's houses. We had at list of approximately 300 or 350 roads and we were able to make good solid progress in respect of that list. We cannot do that now because we are only robbing Peter to pay Paul. As the Minster can see, doing four roads is ridiculous.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I understand the importance attached by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae and others to the local improvement scheme. In fact, I think the Deputy is partly responsible for it being in the programme for Government because of his work before he departed from that aspect of the talks. Others were involved as well but I think the Deputy was responsible and he can claim credit for some of that.

It is in the programme for Government. Certainly, the objective is to restore it as soon as is practicable, possibly by the end of 2017, but I cannot guarantee that. It is certainly my intention to assess the scope for ring-fenced funding for the local improvement scheme once the capital plan review is concluded. That should be done at an early date.

While there will be a modest increase in funding for roads in 2017, it will, under the capital plan, take some years to restore steady-state funding levels for regional and local roads. Therefore, the primary focus in 2017 continues to be on the maintenance and renewal of public roads. Having said that, we have a commitment and we intend to keep it.

I wish to comment briefly on hedges. While landowners and occupiers of land are responsible for ensuring that trees, hedges or other vegetation growing on their land do not become a danger to people using a public road, road authorities have the power to require landowners or occupiers of land to do any necessary works. Where landowners or occupiers do not do this, road authorities can carry out such works themselves. There is no proposal to amend the statutory provisions in this regard.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I very much welcome the Minister's statement on LIS funding. That is terribly important.

The Minister referred to hedges. A great system was in place previously, as the Minister is aware. Every councillor in the country gets a councillor's allocation. In the past, councillors were allowed to use some of their allocation to cut hedges. That system worked. Unfortunately, forcing farmers to cut their hedges does not make sense. Some farmers are unable to cut their hedges. Some may be elderly. Others may own property and be away - they might be out of the country. Let us suppose there is a roadway where one farmer is cutting his hedge and another person is not doing so. This means there is no uniformity. Our roads are being narrowed. The Minister saw it himself when he was in Kerry. The roads are becoming so narrow because of year after year of growth. It is proving impossible. It is true that some farmers make an effort and they are able to do so, but others cannot.

I humbly suggest that the Minister should allow local authorities to once again do what they did in the past, that is, allow councillors to allocate sums of money from their councillor's allocation to cut certain roads where they deem fit. That would be a solution to the problem.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I hear what Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is saying but I am not sure that I can give him the same comfort on hedges or comment with the same conviction that I can give to him on our determination to pursue the restoration of the LIS. This is because of the statutory provisions on landowners and occupiers. Section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 provides that landowners and occupiers of land must take all reasonable steps to ensure that trees, hedges and other vegetation growing on their land are not, or could not become, a danger to people using a public road and such growth does not obstruct or interfere with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of a public road. Section 70(2) provides that if a tree, hedge or other vegetation is or could become a danger to those using or working on a public road, or obstructs or interferes with the safe use or maintenance of a public road, a road authority may serve a written notice on the owner or occupier of the land requiring action to be taken to removal the danger or potential danger within the period stated in the notice. Whereas the Government has a large amount of discretion on the LIS and what it produces after the capital review in the budget, it does not have the same discretion on hedges because of the statutory requirements.