Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I recognise as important. I can understand why he might have thought I am not terribly familiar with it and it is a fair assumption. It is not the case now but it would have been the case six or eight months ago. Several of my comrades in Government have made me familiar with it and I hear of little else from Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran and others. I am familiar with the need for it and I am sympathetic to its cause. As the Senator knows, it is in the programme for Government that it should be fully restored.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each city and 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 own resources, supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter

for the council. Ireland has just under 100,000 km of road in its network and the maintenance and improvement of national, regional and local roads places a substantial financial burden on local authorities and the Exchequer. As a result of the national financial position, there have been very large reductions in Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure over the past number of years. For this reason, the focus has had to be on maintenance and renewal.

Maintenance of private laneways and roads not taken in charge by local authorities is the responsibility of the landowners concerned, as the Senator noted. There is a local improvement scheme in place whereby a contribution can be made by the State towards the cost of maintaining these laneways or roads. Local improvement schemes are permitted under section 81 of the Local Government Act 2001. Due to the cutbacks in roads funding, it was necessary for the Department to stop making separate allocations to local authorities in respect of local improvement schemes. The approved scheme remains intact and within it local authorities can use a proportion of State grant funding, which was 15% of the discretionary grant in 2016, for local improvement schemes should they wish to do so.

The reason a separate State grant allocation is not being made for local improvement schemes is that given funding constraints, a ring-fenced allocation would result in a pro ratareduction in funding for public roads in a situation where public roads are significantly underfunded. Whereas 2017 will see a modest increase in funding for roads, it will take some years yet under the capital plan to restore steady State funding levels for regional and local roads. The primary focus will have to continue to be on the maintenance and renewal of public roads. I do, however, expect that local authorities will continue to be able to use a proportion of their discretionary grant for the local improvement scheme in 2017. 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 be raising the issue of increased funding in the context of the planned review of the capital plan.