James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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26. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will reconsider how national funding on roads is distributed on a yearly basis; if his Department will review the method on how this is done, considering that Cork county has the longest road network across the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3662/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. This is also subject to the Infrastructure Guidelines and the necessary statutory approvals.

The 2025 allocations for national roads will be announced in the coming weeks.

Noting the above position, I have referred the question to TII for a direct reply regarding the allocation of funding for national roads. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.

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 roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State Road grants. Of these grants, the vast majority (approximately 90%) are targeted at the maintenance and renewal of the network with c. 10% of the remaining funding invested in new roads/bridges or for road realignments.

The three most significant grants for Councils in terms of monies and in terms of maintaining the road network in a serviceable condition are Restoration Maintenance, Restoration Improvement and Discretionary Grant. The amount that each local authority receives under these three grant programmes is based on the regional and local road length in each county or city area (taken as a proportion of the total road length and multiplied by the amount available for that programme) with some account taken of traffic. Cork County Council’s allocation for regional and local roads is, therefore, consistent with other local authorities’ allocations. It is envisaged that grants will continue to be made available on that basis.

There are some factors that affect each local authority’s Discretionary Grant allocation. The cost of salt for the previous winter, which is purchased centrally, is subtracted from the gross Discretionary Grant allocation to each authority to recoup the cost of salt used by each authority in the previous winter. In addition, Cork County Council is required to self-fund a portion of its roads programme due to the Council’s Local Property Tax receipts. This is also subtracted from the Council’s gross Discretionary Grant allocation.

Where projects are being implemented under the Specific or Strategic Grant Programmes, this can result in significant variances between the total amount of funding provided to local authorities with similar networks and this affects total grant per kilometre comparisons between different local authorities. In 2024, Cork County Council were allocated €83,199,560 under the Regional and Local Road Grant Programme. In 2023, Cork County Council were allocated €71.3m for the maintenance and improvement of their regional and local roads network; the 2024 allocation represents a 16.62% increase on this figure.

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.

Grant allocations for 2025 will be notified to local authorities in the coming weeks.