Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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152. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware of the crisis situation regarding the condition of County Wexford’s local secondary and tertiary roads network, which are among the worst in the country (details supplied); his plans to address this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5385/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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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 Councils' own resources, which are supplemented by State grants for regional and local roads.

In February 2024 an Exchequer investment of €658 million was announced for our regional and local roads across the State which represented an increase of €32 million over the 2023 allocations. Each local authority received an increase in funding for their Restoration Improvement grant. On 31st May 2024, additional funding of €30 million was announced to local authorities through Restoration Improvement (RI) Grants following persistent rainfall over winter and spring.

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. In this context there has been significant increases in Exchequer grants for regional and local roads particularly in the recent years.

Basing regional and local roads grant allocations on road conditions could result in an unequitable distribution of Exchequer funding. For example, local authorities that allocate higher levels of own resources funding to regional and local roads will have a larger proportion of roads with a higher condition rating than those with lower levels of own resources funding. Basing allocations on road condition could therefore disincentivise local authorities from allocating own resources funding to roads maintenance. Given the vast nature of the network, and the budget available to the Department, State grant funding is allocated on as fair and equitable a basis as possible; the allocation of grants in the three main grant categories (restoration maintenance/ restoration improvement/discretionary) are based on the length of regional and local roads within a local authority area of responsibility.

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 this week.