Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
132. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Transport if he intends to provide an additional allocation to local authorities for the purpose of local road maintenance and improvement, beyond the allocations currently announced, considering the announced funding will be insufficient to carry out the works that have been deemed necessary by many local authorities. [14638/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 137 together.
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 these roads are funded from Councils’ own resources and supplemented by State Road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is a matter for the local authority.
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.
As regards the basis for allocating grants, within the budget available to the Department for regional and local road grants, grant funding for maintenance purposes is allocated on the basis of grant programmes and not on the basis of the category of road. The allocation of funding across specific roads or across categories is a matter for each local authority, having regard to the funding available to it from local and central sources as well as its particular priorities.
The main regional and local road grant programmes are focussed on specific policy objectives i.e. surface sealing to protect the road surface from water damage, road strengthening based on pavement condition rating to lengthen the life of roads and a Discretionary Grant Scheme which allows for a specified range of activities including winter maintenance. These three grant programmes account for most of the grant funding and are allocated taking into account the length of the road network and traffic factors in a particular local authority area. Apart from a requirement that 15% of the road strengthening grant is spent on regional roads, the allocation of funding to different categories of road is entirely a matter for decision by each local authority.
As regards the total funding allocated to and drawn down by local authorities by grant type for the years 2020-2025, details of the regional and local road allocations and payments to local authorities are outlined in the regional and local road allocations and payments booklets which are available on the Oireachtas Digital Library. The 2026 allocations booklet will be lodged shortly.
Full details of the 2026 regional and local grant allocations are available at https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-transport/press-releases/ministers-for-transport-announce-over-15-billion-for-national-regional-and-local-roads/.
