James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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466. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to outline his plans for future local improvement scheme funding of lanes in County Wexford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51468/17]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department wrote to Local Authorities last August to establish the level of demand for a Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) this year. The LIS is a nation-wide scheme that supports improvement works on private and non-public roads. The Local Authorities were advised that any requests for funds would be subject to their capacity to complete any proposed works in 2017, and the availability of funding.

I announced the provision of €10 million for a Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) on the 21st September and subsequently announced an additional €7.4 million to this scheme on the 27th November.

As part of this process Wexford County Council submitted a list of potential works with a value of €542,151 under the first round of the LIS Scheme. Wexford was allocated €360,000 in Round 1 in September, and a further €134,493 in Round 2 in November, giving a total allocation of €494,493.

It is a matter for the Local Authorities to determine which roads they wish to prioritise from the funding allocated to them from the lists submitted as part of the funding process.

€10 million has been allocated for a Local Improvement Scheme in my Department's Estimate for 2018 and details regarding the operation of the scheme will be made available early in the New Year. The budgetary allocations for 2018 are provisional and subject to the publication of the Revised Estimates Volume for Public Services.