Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1271. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the further funding that will be allocated in 2021 to accommodation roads on offshore islands; and the number of such roads on offshore Islands off the coast of County Donegal. [53186/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides funding for an annual programme for minor capital works on our offshore islands, including island road repair. Each year the Department requests the relevant local authorities to submit a list of minor capital works that they wish to undertake on the islands and after review the Department provides co-funding to the Local Authority to undertake these projects.

Projects involving the repair of county roads, that is roads that have been taken in charge by the Local Authority, regularly receive funding under this scheme. To date in 2021, works to the value of €227,500 have been sanctioned under this programme for works on the islands in Donegal.

Approaching the end of the year, weather and sea conditions together with the normal logistical challenges in undertaking work on the islands, means that the window to effectively undertake construction and road works is almost closed and accordingly it is unlikely that there will be any further projects sanctioned for works commencing in 2021.

However, my Department has contacted all the relevant Local Authorities to ask them to submit their lists for work for projects they wish to undertake in 2022.

The information requested regarding the number of roads on the offshore islands in Donegal is not available in my Department.