Regional and local road damaged by storms will be repaired thanks to funding announced today.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross TD said local authorities will receive additional allocations under a new ‘Special Maintenance Grant’.
Cork County Council and Galway County Council are in line to receive the most, each being allocated €1.1 million.
"In deciding on the allocations I was very conscious of the fact that in certain areas of the country the fabric of the regional and local road network has suffered significant damage as a result of severe weather events and that in some cases local authorities have been faced with damage caused by repeated severe weather incidents," Minister Ross said.
"I am pleased to be able to provide additional funding support of €15m to assist local authorities in progressing repairs to affected regional and local roads before year end."
Extreme weather events over the last year, such as Storm Eleanor, Storm Emma, flooding incidents and the summer drought have had a major impact on the regional and local road network.
These events combined with the extended period of reduced funding for road maintenance following the economic downturn have left the road network much more vulnerable to damage.
In addition, a €3m allocation is being provided to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to assist with winter operations and maintenance works on national roads.
TII assists local authorities with maintenance funding for national roads.
"This additional funding boosts the regional and local road budget in 2018 from €417m to €432m which represents an increase of 33% on the 2017 investment," said Minister Ross.
"I would also like to emphasise once again that I consider that local authorities are best placed to assess priorities within their areas and to decide their work programmes.
"I further wish to explain that these grants are to supplement local authorities own resources expenditure on regional and local roads and do not represent the total investment in regional and local roads for this year."
Special Maintenance Grant allocations to local authorities
- Carlow County Council: €500,000
- Cavan County Council: €500,000
- Clare County Council: €550,000
- Cork County Council: €1,100,000
- Galway County Council: €1,100,000
- Kerry County Council: €800,000
- Kildare County Council: €600,000
- Kilkenny County Council: €600,000
- Laois County Council: €956,000
- Leitrim County Council: €500,000
- Limerick City & County Council: €650,000
- Longford County Council: €500,000
- Louth County Council: €500,000
- Mayo County Council: €375,000
- Meath County Council: €550,000
- Monaghan County Council: €550,000
- Offaly County Council: €500,000
- Roscommon County Council: €501,000
- Sligo County Council: €600,000
- Tipperary County Council: €814,000
- Waterford City & County Council: €500,000
- Westmeath County Council: €334,000
- Wexford County Council: €750,000
- Wicklow County Council: €550,000
- Cork City Council: €150,000
- Total: €15,030,000
