Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 372: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if additional funding will be made available to local authorities to assist in repairing the damage caused to regional and local roads as a consequence of the severe weather to date in 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40563/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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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.

My Department does not set aside funding in its budget to cover expenditure resulting from severe weather. Instead, local authorities are provided with flexibility, where possible, to amend their Specific Improvement Grants Programme or their Restoration Improvement Programme to accommodate remedial works. As you will be aware, the initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded from these State grants is a matter for each local authority, and it is open to local authorities to prioritise these works and revise their applications should they wish to do so.

The 2011 regional and local road grant allocations have now been allocated and there are no further funds available at this time from which an additional allocation could be made.