Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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510. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will sanction funding to Fingal County Council to enable it to complete the new link road near Moylaragh in Balbriggan which is ready to go to tender and urgently needed for road safety in the area. [47803/13]

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.  

In July last year local authorities were invited to submit applications for consideration for funding in 2013 under the Specific Improvement Grants Scheme.  Fingal County Council applied for funding for five projects under this grant category but the link road referred to by the Deputy was not among the Council’s applications.

The Specific Improvement Grants Scheme is being discontinued from 2014 onward in order to maximise the funding available for repair and strengthening work.  The small amount of funding available for major schemes will focus on projects already under construction or that the Department is already committed to. 

The 2013 regional and local road grants have been fully allocated to local authorities and there are no funds at the disposal of my Department from which further grants could become available at this time.

It is also important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils like Fingal County Council in their own resources spending in this area. It is open to the Council to fund this project from its own resources.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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511. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the fact he has responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme and that he does not expect any major new projects to commence construction in the next few years, if he will axe the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework 2012-2016 scheme or seek to have a statutory blight introduced (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47880/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme.  The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Within its capital budget, therefore, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter for the NRA. However, it is important to stress that the NRA is not responsible for planning restrictions along proposed new routes for roads, rather any such restrictions are a matter for the relevant local authority in their capacity as the relevant planning authority.  

It is the case, in the context of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework 2012-2016, that there will be limited scope to progress new road development projects in the short to medium term and that there are  projects which have reached route corridor selection phase but which will not progress to construction for some time.  As I have indicated previously I am reluctant to cancel such projects given that they are designed for their long term benefit to the State although I am conscious of the potential implications for development in the area.

Just because it is unlikely that a transport infrastructure project will be progressed in the short to medium term does not mean that project should be cancelled, and protections for the route be removed by the relevant planning authorities. For example, in the case of the Harcourt Luas Line and the M50, there were significant passages of time between initial reservations being made and construction commencing on those projects. Therefore, I think it best that the decision on such matters is made by the relevant local authorities in their capacity as planning authorities. They are in the best position to assess how best to balance development needs in the area with protecting route corridors for future road or other transport upgrades.