Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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295.To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will increase funding for local roads, drainage projects and general maintenance to local authorities to assist with the growing cost of inflation, and to allow them to carry out their role; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33692/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Since 2020, allocations provided for the regional & local roads programme in the annual Revised Estimates of Public Services ("REV") have increased year on year, with the current 2024 allocation announced as €658m in this year's REV. Over the years, further additional funds have been added during the year, to offer additional support to local authorities for the maintenance and upkeep of regional and local roads, with an additional €30m being made available in May 2024 for example, to assist with the damage to the road network caused by unusually persistent and prolonged rainfall over winter and spring period.

From the outset, it is important to emphasise that 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. And that works on those roads are funded from Councils' own resources, which are supplemented by State grants for regional and local roads.

Within the budget available for the regional and local road grant programme, 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.

The main regional and local road grant programmes are focussed on specific policy objectives i.e. surface sealing to protect the road surface from water damage, road strengthening based pavement condition rating to lengthen the life of roads and a Discretionary Grant which allows for a specified range of activities including winter maintenance. These three grant programmes account for most of the grant funding and are allocated taking into account the length of the road network and traffic factors in a particular local authority area. Apart from a requirement that 15% of the road strengthening grant is spent on regional roads, the allocation of funding to different categories of road is a matter for decision by each local authority, having regard to the funding available to it from local and central sources as well as its particular priorities.

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 area, it is open to local authorities to prioritise investment on regional and local roads.