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 each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for each local authority.

In February 2023, I announced an Exchequer investment of €626 million in our regional and local roads across the State which included an increase in funding of €20 million for road pavement rehabilitation works.

At the start of 2023 Monaghan County Council were allocated €16,222,270 and Cavan County Council were allocated €17,510,350 for the maintenance and improvement of their regional and local roads network.

In recognition of the fact that cost inflation was having a significant impact on the cost of delivering regional and local road annual programmes, local authorities were notified in July 2023 of a supplementary allocation of €22.5 million for their key road strengthening programmes. Monaghan County Council were allocated €579,991 and Cavan County Council were allocated €687,572 under this supplementary allocation.

As regards 2024, regional and local road grant allocations will be finalised shortly and will take into account the expenditure outturn on projects and programmes in the preceding year. Within the budget available, the objective is to allocate funding to eligible local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible taking the length of the road network into account. The main focus of the grants continues to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network.