Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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610. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if funding will be provided in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4805/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, 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 (in this case Kerry County Council) 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.

If this is a road not taken in charge by Kerry County Council, the maintenance and improvement of such a road, is in the first instance, a matter for the relevant landowner. The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) does provide for funding for such roads and laneways.  However, there is no separate allocation for the LIS.  Instead, local authorities may use up to 15% of their initial Discretionary Grant towards local improvement schemes should they wish to do so. The local contribution for these schemes is 20% of the total cost of the project.  Furthermore, it is open to local authorities to supplement the percentage of their Discretionary Grant that they can use for the LIS with their own resources.

Kerry County Council is being allocated €12.8m in funding by my Department as part of the 2015 regional and local road grant allocations.

It is also important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement Councils in their own resources spending in this area.