Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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271. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide additional funding in 2015 to Monaghan County Council for the non-national road network, in view of the serious deterioration in road conditions throughout the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12616/15]

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' 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.

The economic reality of recent years has meant significant reductions in roads budgets across the board. My Department has allocated a total of €294 million for regional and local roads in 2015, €7.1m of which has been allocated to Monaghan County Council.

Funding for regional and local roads in 2015 has now been allocated.

It is important to reiterate that the role of Exchequer grants for regional and local roads is to supplement local authorities in their spending in this area and it is also open to Monaghan County Council to fund additional work from its own resources.