John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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800. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to provide additional funding to Kerry County Council to carry out works on the Dale Road, County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30414/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of the relevant County or City Council, 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 Council.

Prior to the financial crisis, applications for funding for projects such as Dale Road would have been considered as part of the Specific Improvement Grant Scheme for regional and local roads. However, the extent of the cutbacks in grant funding during the crisis meant this grant scheme had to be curtailed after 2013 because expenditure on maintenance/renewal was falling well short of what was required to adequately maintain the regional and local road network.

The NDP does provide for the gradual build up in funding for the road network but it will take some years yet to reach the level required for the adequate maintenance and renewal of the network. For this reason there is limited scope at present for funding projects under the Specific Grant Programme. 

Any projects proposed by local authorities for consideration under the Specific Grant Programme are assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis.  All projects put forward by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the Public Spending Code and my Department's Capital Appraisal Framework and it is important for local authorities to prioritise projects within their overall area of responsibility with these requirements in mind.  In this context Kerry County Council has been informed that it should submit a Preliminary Appraisal in relation to the upgrade of the road. Once this is received it will be assessed by the Department.