Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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147. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the widespread damage caused by falling trees in recent storms affecting ESB transmission lines, telecommunication lines and other critical infrastructure, if measures will be implemented across Departments to ensure that diseased trees are felled and financial support provided to landowners and households in view of the substantial costs involved in felling trees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18350/25]

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 improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of each road authority in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on regional and local roads are funded by local authorities' own resources supplemented by State grants. Within the overall resources available to it, the selection and prioritisation of works including the maintenance of road verges is a matter for each local authority.

Section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 sets out the responsibility of landowners to take all reasonable steps to ensure that trees, hedges and other vegetation growing on their land are not, or could not become, a danger to people using a public road or interfere with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of a public road. This responsibility includes the 'the preservation, felling, cutting, lopping, trimming or removal of such tree, shrub, hedge or other vegetation' in question.

As such, the implementation of the legislation and the management of tree cutting operations is a matter for local authorities and landowners, and I am not in a position to introduce such a grant scheme.

As Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, this week ESB Networks published a plan, approved by cabinet, with new measures to increase the resilience of Ireland’s electricity grid.

Part of the plan will involve completing the survey of the 23,000km of Ireland's electricity network, making hazards safe and identifying remedial works needed to refurbish areas of the network weakened in the recent storm.

ESB Networks will replenish their materials supply, which was depleted during the recent storm season, with the intention to quickly double in size the storm-specific provisions.

Officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Attorney General and ESB Networks in consultation with Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Coillte will continue to assess legislation relating to forestry and its relationship to electricity infrastructure.

It is anticipated that the department will return to government shortly to seek approval to amend legislation around forestry corridors to advance future resilience work for the electricity grid.