Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1062. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if emergency funding will be provided to Kerry County Council (details supplied) for road maintenance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24460/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of local authorities, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the Council'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.

Within the budget available to the Department, grant funding is allocated on as fair and equitable basis as possible. In this context, grants in the main grant categories, including restoration maintenance, are allocated based on the length of regional and local roads within a local authority area of responsibility and it is envisaged that grants will continue to be made available on that basis. My Department allocates funding at local authority level and allocations to individual Municipal Districts are a matter for the Council.

I announced the 2018 regional and local road allocations on 29th January and all grant funding available to my Department has now been allocated. It is a matter for each Council to determine its priorities and decide its work programme taking available grant funding and its own resources into account. I always stress to Councils the importance of prioritising roads when allocating their own resources.