Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 601: To ask the Minister for Transport if funding will be made available to improve access to primary road routes for motorists from Tay Lane, Newcastle, County Dublin and Tandy's Lane, Lucan, County Dublin. [33310/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads, in its area, is a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act, 1993. Works on such roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.

Regional and Local Road Grant allocations were announced in April this year. In the case of South Dublin County Council, the total grant allocation from the Department in 2009 is €8,250,000. In August my Department sought applications for consideration for funding under the Specific Improvement Grants scheme in 2010. It is open to South Dublin County Council to include these projects among its applications when they are submitted in due course. The 2010 road grant allocations will be decided early in the New Year.

Local authorities may also use their Discretionary Improvement grant allocations from the Department to fund eligible improvement schemes. The 2009 Discretionary Improvement grant allocation to South Dublin County Council is €167,000. The selection of works to be funded from this allocation is entirely a matter for the local authority.