Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, who is in the Dáil and asked me to take this matter for him. I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address the House.

The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads are the statutory responsibilities of each local authority. In accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, works on these roads are funded from each authority's own resources, as supplemented by the State's roads grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded are also matters for the local authority. Ireland has just under 100,000 km of roads in its network and the maintenance and improvement of roads, including national, regional and local roads, place a substantial financial burden on local authorities and the Exchequer. Owing to the national financial position, there have been very large reductions in the Exchequer funding available for roads expenditure in the past few years. As such, the focus has had to be on maintenance and renewal rather than major new improvement schemes.

The capital plan published in September 2015 outlines proposed transport investment priorities to 2022. The transport element of the plan was framed by the conclusions reached in the Department's strategic investment framework for land transport. The framework report highlighted the importance of the maintenance and renewal of transport infrastructure, together with targeted investments to address particular bottlenecks and critical safety issues. The capital plan provides €6 billion for investment in the road network in the period to 2022, with €4.4 billion earmarked for the maintenance and strengthening of the existing extensive network throughout the country. There is also €1.6 billion for new projects. Allowing for the commitments related to PPP projects, the balance available for new projects within the available capital envelope is limited. The Minister must work within the annual allocations set out in the plan. In this context, the capital plan provides for a gradual build up in capital funding from the current relatively low base towards the levels needed to support maintenance and improvement works.

While there will be a modest increase in funding for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads in 2017, it will take some years under the capital plan to restore steady State funding levels for land transport. The significant ramp up in funding will occur in 2020 and, by the end of the plan period, the Minister expects capital funding for the road network to be back up to the levels needed to support maintenance and improvement works in the future. While regional and local road grant allocations for next year have yet to be decided, the Minister expects to announce the details early next year. Given funding constraints, his objective must be to allocate funding to local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible, taking into account road lengths in each local authority's area of responsibility. It is important to reiterate that State grants are intended to supplement local authorities' own resources. In that context, the Minister is emphasising to local authorities that their commitment to contribute significantly from their own resources towards the cost of improving and maintaining the regional and local roads network is essential.

On the possibility of additional funding being provided within the plan period, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform indicated in his Budget Statement that he was bringing forward the capital plan review.There is a strong case for additional funding for the transport sector, which the Minister will make robustly. However, the parameters for the review and the final decisions on allocations are matters for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Government as a whole. Senator Gallagher raised this issue previously, and I dealt with the Commencement debate on that occasion. I forwarded the contribution to the Minister, Deputy Ross, and I will undertake to do the same today. I understand the severity and complexity of the issue Senator Gallagher has raised, and the issue has also been brought to my attention by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, as late as this morning.