Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Transport the legislation that allows the National Roads Authority to erect motorway signage gantries without applying for planning permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19885/10]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Section 2 of the Roads Act 1993 defines a road as including a gantry. Section 19 of the 1993 Act, as amended by section 7 of the Roads Act 2007, sets out the specific functions which the National Roads Authority (NRA) may do in relation to national roads or proposed national roads, including the following:- - Secure the carrying out of construction or maintenance works, or the provision of traffic signs. - Provide any amenity, structure or thing (including, without limitation, service areas, rest areas or lay-bys) for the safety and convenience of road users.

It further states that development consisting of the carrying out of any works by or at the direction of, or on behalf of the Authority under the Roads Act in relation to the construction or maintenance of a national or other public road or anything related or incidental to such is exempted development for the purposes of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The erection of overhead signage gantries, or any road signage, is therefore an exempted development and does not require planning permission.