Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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28. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to ensure that local, regional and national roads in Meath are adequately maintained; if he has considered conducting a review into the state of the local, regional and national road network in Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24681/25]

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 supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority.

On 14th February I announced an Exchequer investment of €713 million in our regional and local roads across the State which represents an overall increase of over 8% in funding this year. The main focus of the grants continues to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network.

In 2025, Meath County Council received an allocation of €26,567,800 which is an increase of €1,433,160 on their 2024 allocation. Of this, over €25 million was allocated to road protection and renewal.

Within the budget available for the regional and local road grant programme, grant funding is allocated on as fair and equitable a basis as possible to ensure that all eligible local authorities are in receipt of funds to maintain the network. 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 Improvement, Restoration Maintenance and Discretionary Grant. The amount that each local authority receives under these 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.

As well as providing grant support to local authorities, my Department has supported the development of a Road Asset Management System for regional and local roads. The Road Management Office, which has been established as a shared service between 31 local authorities, together with my Department, has been working with local authorities to ensure that this road pavement management system includes a record of all pavement related works and information on road surfaces and pavement condition.

The objective of the MapRoad pavement management system is to provide the data needed for evidence based prioritisation and management of road work programmes by each road authority.

My Department has also produced a Pavement Survey Standard for regional and local roads for use in respect of road pavement management by local authorities. This standard requires local authorities to carry out a Pavement Survey Condition Index (PSCI) visual survey on regional, local primary and local secondary roads every two years and every five years for local tertiary roads.

With respect to national roads, 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 planning, design and construction 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. In this context, TII is best placed to advise you regarding the measures taken to ensure that national roads in Meath are adequately maintained. 

The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the NDP. A further €2.9 billion has been earmarked for the protection and renewal of the existing network.

In 2025, TII provided an allocation of €5,153,233 for capital protection and renewal and €499,967 for current protection and renewal to Meath County Council. The protection and renewal budget will allow for the progression of numerous road improvement works such as pavement renewal and measures to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians on the national road network in Meath. 

For further detail on roads maintenance funding allocated to Meath County Council for national roads, I have referred your question to TII for a direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 working days.