Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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284. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding funding for a road (details supplied) in County Dublin; when the project will commence; the reason this project has been started; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9970/14]

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 each local authority.

Earlier this year I announced that €332 million was being allocated to local authorities under the regional and local road grants investment programme (down from €400m in 2013) .  The focus on road maintenance and repair this year comes against a backdrop of ongoing limited resources and an overall cut of 17% this year on the 2013 funding. As a consequence, new schemes which are focused on improvement rather than maintenance will be curtailed for 2014. Our priority is to maintain the existing road network, and unfortunately there is little scope for carrying out new road improvement projects. Accordingly no applications were sought from local authorities for new Specific Improvement Grant schemes (such as Moylaragh Relief Road) in respect of 2014.

It is also important to re-iterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement local authorities in their spending in this area.  I note that Fingal County Council was allocated in excess of €4.7m for regional and local roads in 2014.