Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very keen to reduce traffic in the centre of towns. He is also keen to look at ways, including putting in bypasses or any type of local projects that can help in that way. I take the Senator’s point that he wants Clonmel to be treated in the same way that Tipperary town and that he would like it to be prioritised compared with the rest of the scheme. I will bring that request to the Minister and ask him to come back to the Senator on it.

It is important to note that over €15 million in capital funding was allocated to national road projects in Tipperary during 2022 and 2023. In addition to the Waterford to Cahir project, the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction project also received funding during that period. The allocations for national roads in 2024, as I said, will be announced very soon.

Each local authority is responsible for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local road networks under the Roads Act. Works on the network are funded from local authorities' resources and are supplemented by grants from central government. The Department of Transport provides substantial grant funding for the maintenance and improvement of regional and local roads. Last year, €626 million was provided with most of this funding, €556 million, being allocated to road maintenance and renewal. This is an increase from the 2022 allocation. In 2023, Tipperary County Council was allocated over €34.8 million for the maintenance and improvement of its regional and local roads network, of which over €33 million was allocated to road protection and renewal.