Written answers

Tuesday, 7 July 2020

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Road Projects

Photo of Cormac DevlinCormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if consideration will be given to providing additional funding to local authorities as part of the July stimulus initiative to complete outstanding 30 km/h road projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14396/20]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads (RLR) 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 Councils' own resources supplemented by Exchequer road grants, where applicable. In the case of the four Dublin Councils, since the revision of the arrangements for the retention of Local Property Tax in 2015 these Councils are required to largely self-fund their road programmes.

As regards the ‘Guidelines for Setting & Managing Speed Limits in Ireland’ published in March 2015, under the relevant road traffic legislation, it is Council elected members that take decisions on the application of special speed limits in accordance with the Guidelines. Following the publication of the 2015 Guidelines, my Department did introduce grant support for the provision of speed limit and warning signs related to the reduction of speed limits in housing areas. The Department has continued to provide grant support to eligible local authorities since then and this programme is now nearing conclusion. The Department has also funded a number of pilot traffic calming schemes with a view to assessing the effectiveness of different measures.

Eligible local authorities have been advised that where a Council considers that additional traffic calming measures are required in addition to appropriate signage in housing areas, such proposals can be included in its annual Safety Improvement Works programme application.

In relation to the consideration of measures for inclusion in the July stimulus programme, the primary focus of proposals will be on measures that can be implemented quickly with a focus on employment generation.

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