Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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259. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the criteria used to allocate funding from his Department to local and regional roads; his views on the need for greater funding for local roads in counties Wicklow and Wexford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9346/25]

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 and Exchequer funding is intended to supplement local authorities’ own resources.

As regards the basis for allocating grants, within the budget available to my Department, grant funding is allocated on the basis of grant programmes and not on the basis of the category of road. The allocation of funding across specific roads or across categories of road is a matter for each local authority, having regard to the funding available to it from local and central sources as well as its particular priorities.

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 on pavement condition rating to lengthen the life of roads and a Discretionary Grant Scheme which allows for a specified range of activities including winter maintenance.

These 3 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 entirely a matter for decision by each local authority.

My Department does operate a Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) to facilitate local community participation (on a voluntary basis) in the repair of local roads. The focus of the programme is on the repair of more lightly trafficked public roads which might not be high on the list of a local authority's annual roadwork programme.

In order to allow for sufficient planning and applications for this scheme, local authorities are invited to apply for funding for CIS projects for a two-year programme with the latest round of applications received in 2023 for the 2024/2025 period.

The 2025 regional and local road grants were notified to local authorities on 14th February this year and Wicklow County Council received an allocation of €15,202,800 which includes €403,700 for CIS while Wexford County Council received an allocation of €23,310,350 which includes €614,350 for CIS.