Seanad debates

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Commencement Matters

Regional Road Network

10:30 am

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Mooney for raising this matter. I acknowledge his continued interest in this issue and likewise that of my colleague, Senator Michael Comiskey, who has also raised the matter. I know they have an interest in everything that is going to happen to the cottage and everything around it in the run-up to our commemorative period for 1916. The matter has been raised with me by many members of Leitrim County Council at executive level as well as by elected members of the local authority.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads in Leitrim, such as the L6196, is the statutory responsibility of Leitrim County Council, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the council's resources and are supplemented by funding made available by the State. The selection and prioritisation of these works is, therefore, a matter for the council.

Ireland has a little less than 100,000 km of road in the network. The maintenance of the national, regional and local road networks is a substantial financial requirement for local authorities and the Exchequer. I will set out some context in respect of the challenges involved in meeting that need. In 2008 funding for our local, regional and national road network stood at €2.3 billion, while funding for the same road network for this year is approximately €760 million. Continual challenges arise because the available funds do not meet the amount of work that needs to be undertaken.

I announced the 2015 regional and local road allocations on 3 February this year. Leitrim County Council was allocated €6.6 million, including €3.3 million under the restoration improvement grant programme and €1.57 million under the discretionary grant. In addition - I am keen to emphasise this point - in July this year the council received an additional €546,000 as part of the Supplementary Estimate under my Department. The Supplementary Estimate will be going through the Oireachtas in the coming weeks. Additional money was made available to Leitrim County Council and it was up to the council to decide how it allocated funding. The position is that all available funding from my Department for this year has now been allocated. The original base funding was made available in the way I have described. Then, additional funding was made available at the start of the summer to allow local authorities to plan works they deem necessary across the balance of this year. Therefore, I will have no additional funding available for this year.

I will continue to look to secure the best possible allocation for local and regional roads with a view to next year, but it remains the case that it will be up to local authorities to decide how they wish to allocate funding. The road in question must be seen in that context as well as in the context of the funding that Fáilte Ireland has already made available to fund work which, I acknowledge, needs to be done at the cottage.

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