Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if special funding will be provided for footpath adaptation to provide crossings and dish kerbs for wheelchair users. [18147/04]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The memorandum on grants for non-national roads issued by my Department urges road authorities to take measures to facilitate people with disabilities. Road authorities have been advised when planning and executing road works and particularly the planning and design of pedestrian facilities to pay particular attention to the needs of the mobility-impaired, including the visually impaired. Authorities have been specifically advised that care should be taken to avoid steep or irregular gradients or sharp changes in the alignment of footpaths which might prove deceptive to blind or partially sighted persons; and that kerbs should be dished and wheelchair ramps, constructed of non-slip material, should be provided at pedestrian crossing points, where possible.

Local authorities may use their own resources, as supplemented by my Department's discretionary improvement and block grants, to fund the provision of pedestrian crossings and dished kerbs. In 2004, the total discretionary improvement grant allocation by my Department to county councils is €22 million, which represents an increase of 6.5% on the 2003 grant payment. The total 2004 block grant allocation by my Department to city, borough and town councils is almost €14.1 million, which represents an increase of 8.6% on the 2003 block grant payment. The selection of works to be funded from these grants is entirely a matter for the relevant local authority.

In 2004, regional traffic management scheme grant allocations totalling €2.183 million have also been made to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford City Councils, representing an increase of almost 19% on the 2003 grant payment. While this scheme is primarily intended to assist the provision of urban traffic management schemes, eligible works would include the provision of pedestrian crossings and dished kerbs in residential areas, subject to the approval of my Department.

The allocation of grants for national roads is a matter for the National Roads Authority. The Dublin Transportation Office also allocates grants for traffic management measures to local authorities in the greater Dublin area.