Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to recommence the design stage of the A5/N2 to address the potential impacts from Brexit; if Monaghan County Council can be briefed on these plans; and if funding will be available to the council. [29940/17]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will allocate funding to allow Monaghan County Council recommence the design stage of the A5/N2 and select the preferred route to address the potential impacts from Brexit. [29939/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 59 together.

As the Deputy is aware, while I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme.  The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects (such as the N2) is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

Within its capital budget, the assessment and prioritisation of individual projects is a matter in the first instance for TII in accordance with Section 19 of the Roads Act.

The Capital Plan published in September 2015 outlined proposed transport investment priorities to 2022. Maintenance and renewal of the road network will continue to be the main priority over the next period and the bulk of the roads capital budget, approximately €4.4 billion, is earmarked for such essential work with a further €600 million allocated for implementation of the PPP road programme which is already underway. In this context it was not possible to include a range of projects in the Plan (including the N2 Clontibret to the Border scheme) given the overall funding envelope available.

The Capital Review is now underway and a number of local authorities (including Monaghan County Council) have made submissions to my Department outlining the case for funding for roads and my Department is making a strong case for additional funding, including the development of a project pipeline for road schemes.  While there is a strong case for additional funding for the transport sector, there are a multitude of possible national, regional and local projects around the country, the cost of which far exceed available funding and unfortunately, this means that only a limited number can be put forward for funding.

The final decisions on allocations are, however, matters for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and Government as a whole.

Concerning the A5 scheme, as outlined to the Deputy in my reply to PQ 12318/17 of 8 March 2017 and PQ 23352/17 of 16 May, the planning and implementation (including the design) of the A5 project is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland authorities.  As the Deputy is aware, the Stormont House Agreement and Implementation Plan - A Fresh Start - reaffirmed the Government's commitment to provide funding of £50m for the A5 project and committed an additional £25m to ensure that Phase 1 of the project (Newbuildings to north of Strabane) can commence as soon as the planning process in Northern Ireland has been concluded.