Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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552. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress of the next phase of the southern distributor route for Athy, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51749/19]

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 local authority 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.

Under Project Ireland 2040 my Department is committed at present to providing grant funding towards the cost of 12 significant capital regional/local road improvement schemes, including the Athy Southern Distributor Road. The Project Ireland 2040 road improvement projects are managed on a programme basis with allocations determined on an annual basis depending on progress with individual schemes and taking into account the available capital budget.

Each local authority is the contracting authority for the purpose of implementation of regional and local road improvement projects and my Department has been liaising on an ongoing basis with Kildare County Council regarding progress on the scheme. Currently the Athy distributor road is at the stage where advance works are being carried out and tender documentation for the main contract is being prepared. The 2020 grant allocation for the scheme will be decided as part of the annual grant decision making process.