David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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159. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reasoning behind the reduced allocation in community involvement scheme funding to Cork County Council this year compared with 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10619/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of local authorities, 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 State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.

In late 2021 local authorities were invited to apply for funding for Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) projects for a two year programme for the period 2022-2023. Within the overall budget available for the CIS grant programme over the two year period, local authorities were allocated funding on a pro-rata basis unless an individual authority sought less than the pro-rata amount. 

Local authorities were given a somewhat higher proportion of their overall allocation in the year 2022 and in March last year local authorities were notified of their CIS allocations for both 2022 and 2023.

The 2023 funding allocation for Cork County Council is consistent with this approach.

It should be noted that exchequer funding for regional and local roads is intended to supplement realistic contributions from local authorities’ own resources. As the statutory road authorities for their areas, it is open to local authorities to prioritise investment on regional and local roads.