John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is undertaking to ensure that funds for regional and local roads are being targeted at essential maintenance work to the greatest extent possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15201/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities own resources supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.

The Department has allocated a total of €349.462 million to local authorities for works on regional and local roads in 2013, and increasingly this funding is being directed towards the maintenance and repair of regional and local roads and low cost safety works.  This will remain the position in the coming years.

My Department recently wrote to local authorities offering additional flexibility this year by allowing Councils to transfer resources into their discretionary grant from their Restoration Improvement Grant to ensure funding is targeted at the areas which are most in need. 

It is also important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils in their own resources spending in this area and local authorities need to prioritise increased expenditure from their own resources on their own roads in view of the current difficult situation.