Seanad debates

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Adjournment Debate

Road Network

8:45 pm

Photo of John PerryJohn Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. During the Meath East by-election I was in the area and have some idea of the condition of the roads. However, in the case of roads we must consider the time of the year. I know that in Sligo, much of the maintenance work does not commence until this time of year because of weather conditions. Engineering staff in Sligo County Council tell me that any remedial work done up to this time of year is often a waste of money due to heavy rain and bad weather. Therefore, I am sure the Senator will be pleasantly surprised when the road crews get working in Meath on the class 3 roads.

I am taking this Adjournment debate on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Varadkar, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and I thank the Senator for raising this issue in the House this evening. The Minister has responsibility for overall policy and funding for the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, under the Roads Acts of 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter in the first instance for the NRA in accordance with section 19 of the Roads Act. The NRA has a budget of €318 million for improvement and maintenance works on the national roads network in 2013.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on these roads are funded from local authorities' own resources, supplemented by State road grants paid by the Department. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local authority. The Minister announced the 2013 regional and local road grant allocations on 25 January. A total of €349 million is being provided under the regional and local roads investment programme this year. From that allocation, Meath County Council is being provided with an allocation of over €10.7 million.

The level of grants allocated to individual local authorities is determined having regard to a number of factors, which include the total funds available in a particular year, the eligibility criteria for the different road grant schemes, road pavement conditions, the length of the road network, the need to prioritise projects and competing demands from other local authorities. In determining the annual grant allocations, the overall objective remains to supplement the resources provided by each local authority in a fair and appropriate manner. Ireland has a uniquely extensive road network. There are approximately 98,000 kilometres of road in the network, which represents two and a half times the EU average in terms of kilometres per head of population. The maintenance and improvement of this extensive network of roads places a substantial financial burden on local authorities and on the Exchequer.

In light of this country's current financial position, which the Senator is well aware of, our main focus must be on the maintenance and repair of roads. This will remain the position in the years to come. There have been large reductions in roads expenditure over recent years. There will be further reductions in the future. In 2007, grants worth €2.375 billion were made available for national and local roads. These grants have fallen to €665 million in 2013 and will fall further to €629 million in 2014. The reality of the funding position means that priorities have to be set in all areas of activity.

It is important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement the spending of councils like Meath County Council in this area. The contribution made by Meath County Council, which is the road authority for the area mentioned by Senator Byrne, has fallen in recent years in real and percentage terms. In 2008, Meath County Council spent over €18 million from its own resources on works on regional and local roads. This represented 40% of the total spending on these roads, including State grants, in 2008. This own-resources expenditure decreased to €4 million, or 26% of the total expenditure on roads in the county, in 2012.

It is appreciated that many local authorities are trying to implement savings. The Minister believes that some local authorities are missing the point when they complain about reductions in Government grants and seek additional funding, given that they have reduced their own contributions by a far greater proportion. The reality is that the available funds do not match the amount of work required. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and local authorities are working closely to develop new and more efficient ways of delivering the best possible outputs from the funding available to them. Given that the squeeze on Exchequer funding is likely to continue, this concentration on efficiency is essential if the best outturns are to be achieved from the limited money available.

In this regard, the Minister recently wrote to local authorities to offer them more flexibility in their regional and local road grants. Councils have an opportunity to reallocate up to 30% of their restoration improvement grants to their discretionary grants. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has invited applications for funding under a pilot community involvement scheme, whereby problems affecting a given stretch of road can be remedied sooner than would otherwise be the case if the local community is willing to assist the local authority, in money or in kind, with the necessary works. The scheme recognises local community involvement in this regard without taking from the statutory responsibilities of county councils in any way.

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