Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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1745. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider the project at Lehenagh More and Lehenagh Beg, Togher, County Cork for inclusion in the next round of grants under the specific improvement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24539/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads in their area is a statutory function of local authorities in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act, 1993.  Works on such roads are a matter for the relevant local authority to be funded from its own resources supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of projects to be funded from these monies is a matter for each local authority.

The cutbacks in State funding for regional and local roads since the financial crisis has resulted in the grant programmes for new regional and local road improvement schemes and for major realignment schemes being curtailed in order to protect the funding available for the maintenance of the existing network. In this context my Department is not operating an annual application process at present under the Specific and Strategic Grant Schemes.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, together with the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, has announced the establishment of a Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund of €150m, to be matched by €50m in local authority funding, to relieve critical access and supporting infrastructural blockages and enable the delivery of large-scale housing on key development sites, with the potential to open up lands and deliver significant level of new housing in Dublin and other urban areas.  Once details of the arrangements relating to the Fund are finalised and acall for proposals issues later this year, it is open to local authorities, including Cork County Council, to consider submitting a bid proposal to access such funding for suitable projects.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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1746. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider projects at Clarke's Hill and Coach Hill, Rochestown, County Cork, for inclusion in the next round of grants under the specific improvement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24540/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads in Cork is the statutory responsibility of Cork County Council, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the Council's own resources supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the Council.

In order to protect funding for road maintenance and repair in recent years (including 2016) regional and local road improvement schemes, including the Specific and Strategic Grants Schemes, have been curtailed.  Despite this, my Department provided funding of €119,100 in 2016 to a number of legacy Specific Improvement Schemes in Cork including the R582 Mountcaine Bridge, the R586 Ilen Bridge and the R595 Skibbereen to Baltimore scheme. Unfortunately, the current financial realities are such that the budgets proposed for the Department for 2017 indicate that capital funding will continue to be very tight, and the ability to increase allocations or progress new projects is limited.

It is however open to the Council to fund those projects from their own resources.  The purpose of Exchequer funding is to supplement the own resources of local authorities, not to meet the full cost of schemes.