Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 997: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will put pressure on the National Roads Authority and Mayo County Council to bring the Castlebar to Belmullet road to standard as it is down to a single lane and the amount of traffic is ever-increasing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15062/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Part of the Castlebar to Belmullet road is classified as a national secondary road — the N59 — while a number of sections are non-national or regional roads. Responsibility for national roads, which include national secondary roads, is a matter for the relevant road authority and the National Roads Authority, which operates under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for Transport. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has no function in the funding of national roads. The provision of non-national roads in County Mayo is a matter for Mayo County Council to be funded from its own resources, supplemented by grants provided by the Department. The council has included three schemes in its restoration improvement programme which will be funded from the Department's 2006 restoration improvement grants scheme — the R312 Derrycoosh to Bellacorrick road; works at Cummer at a cost of €165,750 and works at Bellacorrick to Keenagh at a cost of €459,082 and the R313 Bangor to Belmullet road; and works at Glencastle at a cost of €315,000. In addition, under the 2006 EU co-financed specific improvements grant scheme, the council has been allocated a grant of €1.5 million for realignment works on the Castlebar to Derrycoosh section of the R311 Castlebar to Newport road. This is the only application submitted by the council, in respect of the non-national road sections of the Castlebar to Belmullet road, for consideration for funding in 2006 under this scheme. Mayo County Council may also use the discretionary improvement grant provided by the Department towards the carrying out of such works. The discretionary improvement grant allocation to the council in 2006 is €1,603,000, an increase of 7% on the 2005 initial allocation. The selection of works to be funded from this allocation is a matter for the council.