Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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630. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the poor state of repair of Fintra bridge in Killybegs, County Donegal; if he will provide funding in order that improvements to the bridge can be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8213/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads (including bridges) 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.  

I announced the 2015 regional and local road allocations on 3rd February, of which €17.7m was allocated to Co. Donegal.  A total of 8 bridges in Donegal received allocations for bridge rehabilitation works in 2015 however Fintra Bridge was not among the applications received by my Department.

Funding for 2015 has now been allocated but it is open to the Council to use monies from its Discretionary Grant allocation or its own resources towards the remedial works. 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.