Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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713. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when funds will be provided to Galway County Council to construct the Claregalway relief road; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25328/13]

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. Given the current financial position it has been necessary to reduce the grant allocations for major new road schemes and for major realignment schemes.  The main focus has to be on the maintenance and repair of roads and this will remain the position in the coming years. The small amount of funding available for major schemes will focus on projects already under construction or that this Department is already committed to.

I announced the 2013 regional and local road grant allocations on 25 January this year. A total of €350 million is being provided under the Regional and Local Roads Investment Programme this year down from over €607 million in 2007.

The preliminary cost estimate given in the 2010 Feasibility Study Report for the project was approximately €21 million.  The funding available in 2013 for all strategic routes is just over €22 million.  The Council has been allocated €50,000 towards the design of the Báile Chláir Inner Relief Road this year however the reality is that my Department is not in a position to commit funding to the construction of a relief road for Claregalway at this stage, but we will reconsider the matter should the financial position improve.

Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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714. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will supporting the future funding for the proposed new Ballaghaderg bridge north of Mitchelstown, County Cork, on the R513; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25354/13]

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 Specific Improvement Grants Scheme is being discontinued from 2014 onward in order to maximise the funding available for repair and strengthening work.  In lieu of the Specific Improvement Grant Programme, applications will be sought in mid-2013 for bridge repair works (which is a subset of the current Specific Grant Programme) for 2014.  This is in line with focusing monies on road and bridge maintenance and strengthening.  Once applications are sought the council may wish to consider if funding for works on the bridge can be sought under the bridge programme and, if so, prioritise this project for consideration for funding in 2014.

It is also important to re-iterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils like Cork County Council in their own resources spending in this area.  I will announce the 2014 regional and local road grant allocations early next year.