Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 February 2026
235. Deputy Natasha Newsome Drennan asked the Minister for Transport when Kilkenny County Council and Carlow County Council will receive their allocation of funding for road maintenance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13540/26]
View answerAs 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 2026 allocations for national, regional and local roads were announced on February 18th. As part of these allocations, Carlow County Council was allocated €1,907,146 and Kilkenny County Council was allocated €7,768,216. Full details of the 2026 allocations for national roads are available on the TII website at www.tii.ie/media/luma0wdk/2026-tii-la-national-roads-allocations-booklet.pdf
The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority and Exchequer funding is intended to supplement local authorities’ own resources.
On 17th February I announced an Exchequer investment of €718 million in our regional and local roads across the State. This will facilitate an increase in funding allocation of €26 million this year for road protection and renewal works.
Within the budget available for the regional and local road grant programme, the objective is to allocate funding to eligible local authorities on as equitable a basis as possible taking the length of the road network into account. The main focus of the grants continues to be the protection and renewal of the regional and local road network.
In 2026, Carlow County Council received an allocation of €9,707,625 which is an increase of 21% when compared to 2022 and Kilkenny County Council received an allocation of €21,706,125 which is an increase of 27.8% when compared to 2022.
Full details of the 2026 regional and local grant allocations are available at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-transport/press-releases/ministers-for-transport-announce-over-15-billion-for-national-regional-and-local-roads/
