Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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255. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of local property tax which is to be assigned to roads by each local authority in tabular form. [52436/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Local Property Tax (LPT) was introduced to provide an alternative, stable and sustainable funding base for the local authority sector, providing greater levels of connection between local revenue raising and associated expenditure decisions and making the taxation system less dependent on other taxes.

In accordance with Government decisions on local retention of LPT, certain local authorities with large property bases receive additional income from LPT compared to their baseline (minimum funding level). The Government decided that these local authorities would use this surplus funding in two ways, with a portion available for their own use and the remainder, if any, to fund certain services in the Housing and Roads areas. This process is known as self–funding.

As set out in the following table, 5 local authorities are required to use €16.4m of their LPT allocations to self-fund roads services in 2017.

LPT self-funding of roads services

It is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process, having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources. It should also be noted that LPT is just one source of income for local authorities, with commercial rates and other local charges, for example, providing significant funding for the sector along with grants from Government Departments and other bodies.

Responsibility for Local and Regional Roads transferred to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) in 2008. An arrangement between my Department and DTTAS  provided that funding for such Roads would be channelled from the Local Government Fund to DTTAS. As per the Revised Estimates 2017, €333m is being transferred for this purpose this year. Responsibility for the allocation of Local and Regional Road Grants to local authorities is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.