ereply 318 Minister for Transport on non-national road network

Cavan/Monaghan Fianna Fáil T.D. Brendan Smith has appealed to the Minister for Transport to provide additional resources to the Local Authorities in respect of the non national road network due to the substantial damage caused to the road network over recent months and also due to the increasing costs of road repairs.

The Minister for Transport in reply to Deputy Brendan Smith in Dáil Éireann stated –

“The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of local authorities, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from the Council’s own resources supplemented by State road grants.  The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the local authority.

I announced the 2018 regional and local road allocations on 29th January and all grant funding available to my Department has now been allocated. It is a matter for each Council to determine its priorities and decide its work programme on that basis, taking available grant funding and its own resources into account.  At present, there is no additional funding available to my Department”, stated Minister Ross in his reply to Deputy Brendan Smith.

Deputy Brendan Smith stated that it is essential that the Minister and Government give further consideration to this issue due to the concerns of communities throughout Cavan/Monaghan arising from the deteriorating road conditions and it is essential that additional funding is provided without further delay for this years road works programme.