Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 875 of 3 June 2020, if further progress has been made in respect of the Meath County Council draft appraisal for the proposed Julianstown bypass; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22881/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As outlined in the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 875 of 3 June 2020, 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.

The main focus of expenditure under the National Development Plan (NDP) is on the maintenance and renewal of the regional and local road network and implementation of the 12 regional and local road projects identified for development, subject to necessary approvals, in the NDP. Some limited provision is being made in the capital budget for the appraisal of a pipeline of upgrade projects. This is intended to cover the appraisal of projects for future development, if possible.

As previously indicated in relation to the appraisal of possible measures to manage traffic in the vicinity of Julianstown, the Department understands that Meath County Council intends to carry out an origin-destination information gathering exercise to obtain a clear indication of the traffic movements and patterns in and around Julianstown. The Council intends that the data collected from this exercise will inform a wider transport study for Drogheda and East Meath area that Meath County Council proposes to carry out in conjunction with Louth County Council as part of a future Joint Urban Plan. The Deputy may wish to contact Meath County Council to ascertain the current position regarding the collection of origin to destination data in view of the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on the exercise. The Council should also be able to provide an update regarding the implementation of the traffic management measures proposed for the Julianstown area.

As also explained previously, projects put forward for funding by local authorities must now comply with the revised Public Spending Code published in December 2019, including the requirement to prepare a Strategic Assessment Report.