Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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557. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of applications for funding for improvements and-or safety measures which have been made by Meath County Council and Kildare County Council in respect of the Dunboyne Maynooth Road R157. [15253/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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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.

Arising from the substantial cutbacks in grant funding for roads during the financial crisis, local authorities were notified that a number of the Department's Grant programmes had to be curtailed (including the Specific Grant Programme) in order to protect funding for road maintenance and repair.

Since 2010 my Department has received 2 applications for funding in respect of improvement and/or safety works in relation to the R157 Dunboyne to Meath regional road scheme. In September 2010, Meath County Council applied for funding under the Specific Grant programme and was allocated €500,000 in 2011 in respect of this scheme. The drawdown on that scheme was €18,507.  No further applications under the Specific Grant programme in respect of the scheme have been received from the Council.

In October 2016, Meath County Council also for applied to my Department for funding under the 2017 Safety Improvement Works programme for signage and lining works on the R157. Local authorities were advised to prioritise projects proposed for funding and this project was listed as number 7 of 12 schemes included in the application.  Allocations were made to Meath County Council for its first six Safety Works projects in 2017.