Brendan Smith urges more funding for regional roads in border counties

Minister, as you're aware in South Ulster we don't have a rail network, we're totally dependent on the road network and in many instances the regional road network in the like of Cavanagh and Monaghan is equivalent to the national road network in many other counties. So I would like to see again a substantial increase in funding for the non-national road network because of its crucial importance in rural borough counties such as Cavanagh and Monaghan. Yeah, thank you, Deputy. As I indicated in response to a previous question from Deputy McSharry, 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 local authorities' own resources, supplemented by state road grants. The regional and local road grant allocations are finalised following the publication of the revised estimates volume and take into account the Expenditure Act turn on projects and programmes in the preceding year. As Minister, I have to work within the budget available to my department and the 2020 allocations will reflect that. That being said, and while the revised estimates volume has not been published as yet, I anticipate that there will be additional funding for regional and national roads in 2020. As in previous years, my objective will be to allocate funding to eligible local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible, taking the length of the road network and traffic factors into account. The main focus of the grants will continue to be maintenance and renewal of the regional and local road network with a view to making progress towards steady state levels of expenditure. The allocations under the various grant programmes will be announced as early as possible in the new year. In addition to increasing the monies available for roads, it is important to manage those monies effectively. In this context, the department reviews and updates its memorandum on grants for regional and local roads on a regular basis. This document seeks to ensure good value for money in respect of road grant expenditure. My department has also supported over the last number of years a road asset management system, MapRoad, for regional and local roads. As part of this process, a road management office, RMO, was established as a shared service between 31 local authorities. The RMO and the department have been working with local authorities to ensure that the MapRoad pavement management system includes an up-to-date road schedule of public roads, a record of all pavement-related works, information on road surface types and road pavement condition. The road pavement condition information generated by the MapRoad system forms the basis for the National Oversight and Audit Commission performance reports. The objective of the MapRoad pavement management system and the NOAC reports is to provide the data needed for evidence-based prioritisation and management of both annual work programmes and multi-annual programmes by each local authority in their capacity as the Stacked Road Authority for their area. Thank you, Alaskan Corley. Thank you, Minister. Minister, you are aware that in the two counties that I have the privilege of representing, that we depend very much on Indigenous business, Indigenous enterprise. A lot of our employment is through small and medium enterprises. A lot of those enterprises are cited along what we know as county and regional roads. So to reduce costs for business, to try to assist business in the very challenging times that lies ahead for enterprise in the border region due to Brexit and other challenges, I would appeal to you, Minister, as I did in the past, to ensure that the infrastructure is brought up to a better standard because, as we know, good infrastructure helps to reduce costs for business and it helps competitiveness as well. So I would appeal to you, Minister, when you are deciding on the allocations on the non-national road network, that you take into account the particular needs of counties like Cavan and Monon that have no rail network and that are totally dependent on transferring goods and persons by road. Minister. Yeah, the... I will... I've listened to what the Deputy has said and I take into account what he said when the considerations for these are being given. The good news, obviously, is that I anticipate there will be an increase. In the coming... In the announcement coming in January. I can't make any specific promises about where that money will go, but obviously it's a matter of great importance to your area and to others. We do have to recognise, though, that the size of the national regional and local road network will always create funding pressures for both the Exchequer and for local authorities. The funding cutbacks during the recession had a major impact on the maintenance improvement of the road network. Overall grant funding dropped from 2.3 billion in 2008 to 753 million in 2015. In relation to regional and local roads, specifically, funding dropped from 604 million to a lowest point of 320 million in 2015. Thank you very much. Read me. Thank you. Thank you.