Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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1205. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will clarify the instructions that he gave to local authorities in respect of making available funding for local funds from different allocations from within local authority funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35350/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has no direct input into how local authorities allocate their own funding.

Grant assistance for the upkeep of the regional and local road network is provided by my Department.  These funds are intended to supplement a council's own financial input. Use of this grant aid is governed by a Memorandum (which is updated from time to time) to ensure that the funding provided, under various grant categories, is expended in line with national and EU procurement regulations and delivers the best value for money.

I have of course exhorted local authorities to maximise their own resources contributions which are applied to the maintenance and rehabilitation of regional and local roads. In this context the allocation of the additional amount of €50 million in June of this year took account of the commitment of local authorities in terms of own resource expenditure in respect of roads.