Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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187. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide the financial figures, per county, of the 2015 local road improvement allocations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8332/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Local Improvement Scheme is to provide funding for roads and laneways that Councils have not taken in charge; that is, private roads and laneways.  However, the maintenance and improvement of these is, in the first instance, a matter for the relevant landowner. At present, 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. 

The grant allocations (including Discretionary Grants) to local authorities for this year were released on the 3rd February and the details are in the allocations booklet in the Dáil Library.

Some local authorities want a ring-fenced LIS allocation for private roads while others prefer to put the funding into public roads. I think this decision is best made at a local level.

The total grant available for LIS for each local authority is outlined in the table below: