Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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203. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if further consideration will be given to the request by Cavan County Council to have the Local Improvement Scheme re-instated, in view of the importance of this particular scheme to rural communities, and the need to bring laneways up to an acceptable standard to provide access to persons homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12317/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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​As outlined to the Deputy in my reply of 5 February 2015 to PQ 5272/15, the Local Improvement Scheme remains in place and it has not been abolished. The purpose of this Scheme is to provide funding for roads and laneways that Councils have not taken in charge; that is, private roads. 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 (€282,972 in the case of Cavan County Council) 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. 

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

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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204. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will accede to a request by Cavan County Council for a meeting to discuss the need to provide additional funding for the road works programme for 2015, and to re-instate the local improvement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12318/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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While I would be willing to meet a deputation, local authorities, including Cavan, were informed of their 2015 Regional and Local Road allocations in February. The Circular informing local authorities of their allocations confirmed that the Local Improvement Scheme remains in place this year (as it was last year) albeit with no separate allocation.

The Circular indicated that local authorities may continue to use up to 15% of their initial Discretionary Grant (€282,972 in the case of Cavan County Council) towards local improvement schemes should they wish to do so. The local contribution for these schemes remains at 20% of the total cost of the project. The same eligibility rules apply for these schemes.

If a separate fund were to be set aside for the Local Improvement Scheme, this would involve making a pro-rata reduction to the other road grants headings, and imposing the scheme on local authorities that would prefer to prioritise public roads.

My view regarding the Local Improvement Scheme is that local authorities, with their community base and local knowledge are best placed to judge the priority of works on private roads. In this way, local authorities may decide whether they want to operate the Local Improvement Scheme in their area or would prefer to put their resources into regional and local public roads.