Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide details with regard to maintaining the funding of local authorities in counties with high road usage. [53457/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Firstly I would like to explain that 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. 

I announced the 2013 regional and local road grant allocations in January this year providing €347 million to local authorities for works on regional and local roads.  I also provided an additional €2.7 million for drainage works on regional and local roads in March this year. More recently, (12th June) I announced an additional €50 million to County and City Councils for regional and local roads bringing the overall amount available in 2013 to approximately €400 million.

The main two road grants are the Restoration Improvement and the Restoration Maintenance grants. Both of these grants are allocated based on the length of mileage of regional and local roads within the county. In the case of counties that experience higher road traffic than the norm, a loading is applied to the mileage within the county. In the case of Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council a factor of 2 is applied, one of 1.5 is applied for Fingal and South Dublin County Councils while a factor of 1.2 is used for Kildare, Louth and Meath County Council.

Details of the regional and local road grant payments to local authorities are outlined in the regional and local road grant payment booklets which are available in the Dáil Library.  Details of the 2013 regional and local road grant allocations to each local authority are also available in the Dáil library. The 2014 grant allocations will be announced early in the New Year.

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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237. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the Department will co-fund, with Kildare County Council, the upgrade of a junction (details supplied) in County Kildare; if it is possible to build a roundabout at the junction instead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53458/13]

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 these roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded is also a matter for local authorities.

Up to now local authorities could apply for grant funding for projects such as this under the Specific Improvement Grants Scheme.   However, due to the need to focus available funding on the repair and strengthening of the road network, the Specific Improvement Grants Scheme is being wound down.

It is important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement the resources of Councils like Kildare County Council. It is, therefore, open to the Council to fund this project from its own resources.