Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his Department has received an application for a strategic road grant for the Port Access Northern Cross route under the strategic grant scheme from Louth County Council; if so, the details of the application including the status of same; if the road is eligible for such a grant as was previously indicated at a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts in November 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3674/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As indicated previously, Louth County Council is the statutory planning and road authority for its area of responsibility. It is, therefore, a matter for Louth County Council to consider options regarding the development of the proposed Drogheda Northern Cross Route (PANCR) scheme.

My Department met with the Council in 2021 to outline the Public Spending Code project appraisal requirements for any proposed transport scheme, including the need for the preparation of a Strategic Assessment Report.

While no funding application has been submitted to the Department under the Strategic Grant heading in relation to the Drogheda Northern Cross Route project, officials from my Department are available to engage further with Louth County Council if the Council wishes to do so as part of its consideration of options for sharing the cost of the proposed road.

As noted in December, the primary focus for capital investment under the regional and local road grant programme in the period to 2025 will be the maintenance and renewal of the regional and local road network, targeted safety/minor schemes together with the implementation of a number of the larger regional and local road projects under the Strategic Grant category which were included in the original NDP and which are now at construction stage.