Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher for bringing this matter before the House. I welcome the opportunity to speak on it again. The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of local authorities in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on such roads are matters for the relevant local authorities to fund from their own resources, supplemented by State road grants. As State grants are intended to supplement local authority funding, my Department continues to emphasise to local authorities the importance of prioritising road maintenance when allocating their own resources.

I fully appreciate the importance of the road network in supporting the economic and social fabric of rural areas. The size of the Irish road network, which is twice the European average per capita, presents real funding pressures for the Exchequer and for local authorities. In the years since the financial crisis, the challenge has been how to address real concerns about the condition of the road network while operating within severe fiscal constraints and dealing with the many competing demands for limited resources. I know the Deputy will argue that the financial crisis is well in the past, but the reality is that we are still recovering from the impact on the maintenance and improvement of the road network of the severe post-2008 funding cutbacks associated with the recession.

In order to avoid deterioration in the condition of the regional and local road network, each year 5% of the network needs to be strengthened and 5% needs to be sealed through surface dressing works. Expenditure is still falling well short of that. Against the backdrop of funding constraints, my Department has focused on maintaining the network in as serviceable a condition as possible. This has meant concentrating resources on the maintenance and renewal of the public road network rather than on new projects. The main grant programmes operated by the Department - the restoration maintenance, restoration improvement and discretionary grants - are allocated based on the length of the road network in each local authority area. I see this as the most equitable approach.

As Minister, I have to work within the budget available to my Department. Under the national development plan, a gradual build-up in capital funding is planned towards the levels needed to support maintenance and improvement works. The plan recognises it will take time to restore funding to the level required to maintain and renew the network adequately. It is important to note that overall grant allocations this year included significant increases and marked an important step in the right direction. It seems to me that very few Senators and Deputies are giving the Department credit for the large increases that have been provided for this year. Local authorities have been told that the final allocations for this year have been made and that they will have to look to their own resources thereafter.

I know the situation in County Monaghan is critical, just as it is in many places in this country. The Senator is absolutely right when he says that this is a real problem. The increase in resources that has already been provided for this year does not seem to have been properly appreciated or acknowledged. For example, the grant allocations included an 18% increase for the key road strengthening programme. I have taken important initiatives in the area of community involvement schemes and drainage. Following the publication of the national planning framework and the national development plan, my Department is working on a planning, land use and transport outlook study, known as PLUTO 2040, which will revisit and build on the 2015 strategic framework for land transport. This work will develop an updated strategic framework for transport planning and investment, including for roads.

I am sensitive to the case which has been made by the Senator and other Senators who are from Border areas. I am aware of the real problems in areas other than roads that are being faced in counties Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal because of Brexit. We are conscious that when Brexit arrives, these areas will have huge demands and critical needs. The Senator must be aware that we have to work within the financial constraints we unfortunately inherited. We will do whatever we can within those constraints to improve the roads to which he has referred.