[Article] Non national road grants

Victor

Road tax now contributes directly to the Local Government Fund and is similar to the amount being spent on local roads. The National Roads allocation is in the order of €1.2bn.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0126/roads.html

Cullen grants €477m for road upgrades
January 26, 2004

(17:44) The Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, has announced grants to local authorities of €477 million for upgrading non national roads.

This is a 10% increase on last year and the largest ever allocation.

However, Mr Cullen warned local authorities that they must increase their own spending on such roads or risk losing out on future state investments.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/2415696?view=Eircomnet

Cullen pledges €476.8m for non-national roads
From:ireland.com
Monday, 26th January, 2004

Record funding of €476.8 million is to be provided for the non-national road network., the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, announced today.

Speaking in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, Mr Cullen said the funding would "smooth the way for road users with better surfaces, wider roads and enhanced drainage."

The funding represents an investment of €4,610 for every kilometre of non-national road in the country and is a 10 per cent increase on last year.

The investment is made up of €428 million from the Local Government Fund and €48.8 million from Exchequer funding.

The Minister also appointed consultants to assess, county-by-county, the areas of non-national roads needing repairs. The study, which is not expected to be completed until the middle of the year, will influence where much of the funding will be spent.

Among the schemes expected to benefit in 2004 are the Naas ring road, the Enfield-Edenderry road, the Barberstown Cross-to-Maynooth road, Trim to Kilcock road, the outer ring roads in South Dublin and Waterford, and the Wicklow town relief road.

"In future years we will reap the benefits of this investment and have a non-national roads network of which we can be proud." Mr Cullen said.

ishmael whale

An indication of the broad strategic vision behind this development.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgFMBJCQCpNRcsgadLjt5C321I.asp

Cullen denies favouring his constituency in €477m roads bonanza
By Mary Dundon
ENVIRONMENT Minister Martin Cullen has rejected claims he favoured his own Waterford constituency and those of top ministers in sharing out the record €477 million funding for non-national roads announced yesterday.

Launching the programme, Mr Cullen said the fund was a 10% increase in the grant aid given to local authorities. This represents a record €4,610 for every kilometre of local and regional roads in every county.

"We are smoothing the way for road users with better surfaces, wider roads and enhanced drainage," Mr Cullen said.

But the Opposition claimed Mr Cullen was showing a bias towards Waterford city and county, giving them €21m almost twice the amount allocated to Dublin City alone.

Labour claimed the funding of eight top projects was influenced more by the presence of a minister than a road investment strategy.

Fine Gael claimed Mr Cullen had favoured Waterford because he wants to boosts the party's chances in the upcoming local elections there.

Waterford city got €10.6m while Galway City, which has a bigger population, got €1.8m.

"Minister Cullen certainly seems to be looking after his own constituency here," Fine Gael's Deputy Environment spokesman Padraic McCormack claimed.

Labour's Environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore said he could not understand why Waterford city and county got almost twice the allocation of Dublin city, which got €11.5m.

Mr Gilmore said eight of the top road projects that got funding under the €56.3 million strategic non-national roads scheme are all in constituencies that have high-profile ministers. "It seems that political strategy rather than road investment strategy guided these decisions," Mr Gilmore claimed.

While both Fine Gael and Labour welcomed the 10% increase in funding, they claimed a greater effort must be made to allocate it more equally.

Mr Cullen rejected the Opposition claims he was biased towards his home constituency.

"The South East has fallen behind the rest of the county in terms of infrastructure investment and the Minister is just playing catch-up and attempting to put this right," his spokesman said.

The non-national roads programme is an annual one and each scheme is judged on a project basis.

Individual local authorities decide how the grant allocation is spent, the minister's spokesman added.

Responding to claims that funding for eight of the projects was influenced by the presence of ministers in these regions, Mr Cullen's spokesman said: "Each of these projects is evaluated on a case by case basis every year."

Qadhafi

will this money even make the slightest bit of difference on the roads?

i know where i live they are still crap as ever, what beats me is the totally uneven bumpy surface and the massive high banks at the side keeping the water on the road so it freezes, the way they are all twisty as feck no road markings or sign posts, built back in the 1600's for the stinkin donkeys.

Victor

http://www.politics.ie/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3096

Urban areas get only 12% of 'record roads money' - Labour
Monday, January 26

"Only 12 per cent of the €477m for non-national roads is being allocated to urban areas,” the Labour spokesperson on Environment and Local Government, Deputy Eamon Gilmore has said.

“This is despite the fact that the worst traffic problems, and the worst road surfaces are now to be found in urban areas and in urban housing estates. In the grants of €477m for non-national roads, announced by Minister Cullen today, just over €36m is being allocated to city councils (and €10.6m of that is for the Minister’s own Waterford City), only €3.5m us being allocated to borough councils and just €14.5m to all of the town councils together.

“In all, the allocation to urban areas amounts to about 12 per cent of the total monies for this year. The Minister has allocated €21m to his own constituency, nearly twice the amount which he has allocated to Dublin City (€11.5m).

“These allocations show a bias against urban areas. Motorists who live in urban areas and whose motor taxation finances the Minister’s announcement will be deeply unhappy that the roads in their housing estates, urban neighbourhoods and towns are being so neglected by the Government.”