Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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312. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if additional 2025 funding will be provided to Meath County Council for the repair of local and regional roads due to damage caused by recent heavy rainfall and storms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11414/25]

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. The Department of Transport also emphasises to local authorities the importance of setting aside a contingency fund to manage unforeseen events such as severe flooding.

On 14th February 2025 I announced an Exchequer investment of €713 million for our regional and local roads across the State which represents an overall increase of over 8% in funding this year. Of this, Meath County Council received an allocation of €26,567,800, which is an increase of €1,433,160 on their 2024 allocation. The main focus of the grants continues to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network.

In line with established practice, local authorities are advised by my Department that a contingency provision should be reserved from the overall resources available to each authority for regional and local roads so as to deal with damage caused by severe weather conditions.

In addition, local authorities may carry out repairs from the regional and local road grants available to them and from their own resources and in this context, it is open to each Council to determine and reprioritise its work programme following severe weather events.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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313. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the extension to the northern section of the Kilkenny ring road; if he will consider giving approval to Kilkenny County Council to begin the planning of the final section of this road given the full completion of the project has been delayed by planning issues outside the control of Kilkenny County Council; if his officials will meet the council to proactively pursue this approach; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11446/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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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 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.

Any new road projects that seek State funding are assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis. All projects proposed by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines (formerly the Public Spending Code) and the Department's Transport Appraisal Framework. Given the limited funding available for regional and local road improvement works it is important for local authorities to prioritise projects within their overall area of responsibility with these requirements in mind.

In line with Government requirements Kilkenny County Council produced a Strategic Assessment Report (SAR) for the Kilkenny Northern Ring Road Extension and a draft was forwarded to the Department in January 2023. The Department reviewed the SAR and returned its comments and observations to Kilkenny County Council for consideration.

Since then, both the Public Spending Code and the Department’s Transport Appraisal Framework (TAF) guidance have been updated - the Department continues to liaise with the Council regarding new requirements under the new infrastructure Guidelines and the TAF including the preparation of a Project Outline Document (POD) and business case incorporating the work already undertaken at the SAR stage.

In 2024, the Department provided funding for an updated POD, which has been submitted to the Department by Kilkenny County Council, and while this process was underway funding was also allocated for Traffic/Junction Analysis in the Butts Green area of the City to further assess and understand traffic patterns in the city.

Following a review of the POD by the Department, €200,00 has been allocated to the Kilkenny Northern Transport Project (formerly Kilkenny Northern Ring Road Extension Project) in 2025 to allow Kilkenny County Council to progress the project to the Options Stage.