Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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165. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the extent to which he remains satisfied that urgently required road improvements and upgrades or new roads previously committed to will continue to be provided as required given the need to meet future as well as present public demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42363/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local road network. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State Road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority.

The primary focus for capital investment under the National Development Plan continues to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network which plays a critical role in supporting economic and community links throughout the country. For this reason, approximately 90% of State funding being provided in 2024 is aimed at protection and renewal works.

On 15th February I announced an Exchequer investment of €658 million in our regional and local roads across the State which represents an increase of €32 million over the 2023 allocations, with each local authority receiving an increase in funding for their Restoration Improvement grant. On 31st May 2024, I announced additional funding of €30 million to local authorities through Restoration Improvement (RI) Grants following persistent rainfall over winter and spring. The total allocation with the additional emergency funding is €688 million.

In addition to protecting and renewing the regional and local road network, it is a priority to carry out targeted improvements to sections of the network and €677 million is earmarked in the NDP for such improvements on new regional and local roads over the 10 year period until 2030. Road improvement projects proposed by local authorities for consideration for funding will be assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis. All projects put forward by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines (IG) (formerly known as the Public Spending Code (PSC)) and my Department’s Transport Appraisal Framework (TAF).

In respect of National Roads, as Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for TII, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. TII ultimately delivers the National Roads Programme in line with Project Ireland 2040, the National Planning Framework and the NDP. This is also subject to the Infrastructure Guidelines and the necessary statutory approvals.

A major priority in the NDP, in line with the Department’s investment hierarchy, is to maintain the quality and safety of the existing national road network. The NDP foresees an exchequer allocation of circa €2.9 billion for the Protection and Renewal of existing national roads over the 10-year period to 2030, allocated fairly evenly across the decade.

The Government has earmarked €5.1bn for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. As the greater portion of this funding becomes available in the second half of the decade, this means that there has been constraint on the funding available for new projects to 2025– however most national road projects in the NDP have continued to be progressed in 2024.

In line with the NDP and Government policy, the Minister for Transport has allocated national road funding for 2024 in a manner which seeks to achieve the following key outcomes:

• Protection and renewal of the existing national road network.
• Progressing major projects in or near construction.
• Progressing major projects which are pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline.
• Prioritising any remaining funds for major projects which provide for local bypasses and Compact Growth in Ireland’s towns and villages.