Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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475. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the level of local and regional roads funding provided to a local authority (details supplied) in respect of 2015 will be reviewed and supplemented; if he will clarify how the amount provided compares with the amount provided to all local authorities over the last five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16297/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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​The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads in County Kerry is the statutory responsibility of Kerry County Council, 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.

Comparatively, funding for the regional and local road network has been reduced significantly across the board in recent years - in 2010 funding was €411 million while funding this year is around €294 million. Regional and local road allocations in 2015 have seen an overall reduction of 11% on the 2014 start of year figure (this 2014 figure included €50 million in one-off stimulus funding).

On 3 February, I announced the 2015 allocations, of which Kerry County Council was allocated a total of €12.7m. All funding for 2015 has now been allocated and no further funding is available.

When the one-off €50 million start of year stimulus boost in 2014 is excluded, the 2015 regional and local road allocation to Kerry, sees a 22% increase on the 2014 allocation across the three main grant categories (Restoration Maintenance, Restoration Improvement and Discretionary Grant). These three main regional and local road grants are allocated based on the length of regional and local roads within the county.

Details of allocations and payments to all local authorities in recent years are included in the grant booklets available in the Dáil library.