Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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241. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if specific additional funding will be provided for road development in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan in the review of the capital plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30471/17]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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242. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if consideration has been given to the provision of additional funding from the EU cohesion funding programmes for road infrastructure development in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan which will be impacted adversely through Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30472/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 241 and 242 together.

​As the Deputy is aware, the Mid-term Review of the Capital Plan 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.  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.

Regarding the question of cohesion funding, my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has overall responsibility for EU Cohesion Policy and the European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds.  Within the overall heading of the ESI funds, Minister Donohoe also has specific responsibility for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).  While I understand that Ireland is not considered a cohesion country for the purposes of the current Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, I understand that Minister Donohoe and his officials are working to secure agreement to successor EU programmes post-2020 and the matters were discussed at the recent Cohesion Policy meeting of the EU's General Affairs Council.