Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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682. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will organise and facilitate the co-ordination of his Department and the Departments of rural and community affairs, Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to jointly finance the construction of the western distributor road in Sligo town for a total amount in the region of €15 million which is ready for tendering and is necessary to open lands owned by the IDA for use in view of the fact all other lands owned by it in the greater urban Sligo area have now been exhausted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32449/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads (such as the Western Distributor Road) is the statutory responsibility of the relevant local authority (in this case Sligo County Council), in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the local authority's 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.

Decisions on the transport elements of the Capital Plan 2016-2021 were framed by the conclusions reached in my Department’s Strategic Investment Framework for Land Transport. Based on the findings in that report it is envisaged that 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 under way. In this context it was not possible to include a range of projects (including the Western Distributor Road) in the Plan given the overall funding envelope available.

As regards the possibility of additional funding within the Plan period, the Capital Plan Review process is under way.  My Department is making a strong case for additional funding, including the development of a project pipeline for national road schemes.  The final decisions on allocations are, however, matters for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and Government as a whole.

Notwithstanding the above, it is for Sligo County Council (as the responsible Road Authority) to identify appropriate sources of funding for the project and in this context I understand that the Council has been liaising with the IDA. My Department has been facilitating the development of the project for a number of years and has provided an allocation of €100k to Sligo County Council in 2017 to progress the detailed design of the project.