2024 TII funding cuts

marno21

https://www.oceanfm.ie/2024/05/31/tii-confirm-funding-cuts-for-local-roads/

Already highlighted on the N59 thread

Interesting to see a) why on earth such a cut is required or in any way justified and b) how this plays out with elections forthcoming.

Geuze

This refers to the annual grants from central Govt to the 31 LA for the regional and local roads.

I'm surprised at any cut, given the rates of inflation recently.

hans aus dtschl

Seems strange. Will be interesting to see what the government response will be. Simultaneously there's money recently after being released for roads for storm Babet damage as "emergency funding". All fairly opaque. I think we're all in the same page on here but the infrastructure budgets should be taken out of 1-year budget cycles.

marno21

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41455297.html

This is ridiculous. That stretch of the N72 resembles the surface of the moon at present.

Also the withdrawing of the funding for the two N71 upgrades is obscene given how much they have been delayed.

Chris_5339762

And especially how Mr Eamon Ryan, the champion of short bypasses apparently, who said the N71 Bandon Relief Road extension (a half assed measure in itself) would definitely go ahead…. has cut TII funding and delayed that self same scheme.

AugustusMinimus

What has the N72 done to deserve such shabby treatment. I can’t think of a worse National Secondary with about the least investment possible.

Charles Babbage

This is truly bizarre, as the planning for these works was advanced. This type of pavement reconstruction is of long term benefit, it will last for a generation or more. It is as much capital expenditure as current. The idea that this is delayed by some bean counting is shocking.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058354225/2024-tii-funding-cuts

Any response from the minister yet? Very strange to see these cuts. It looks like there's an attitude of "no more roads full stop". Surely funding can't be an issue when we're running a surplus. I wonder if TII have reasons for it: have they not been able to progress the sustainable schemes they'd hoped to progress or something.

DumbBrunette

There's a lot of evidence of cuts in TII projects around the west too. There's the almost cancellation of the Newport to Derrada project, but several resurfacing projects, also mostly on the N59, have not gone ahead as planned last year and this year.

2 million was allocated for a pavement renewal project on the N5 near Turlough in the 2024 TII allocations but this has now been withdrawn.

marno21

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/cork/news/councillors-angered-after-transport-infrastructure-ireland-withdraw-funding-for-key-road-projects-in-cork-county/a1694520010.html

Odd carry on.

Taking the hatchet to resurfacing works really doesn't make any sense. Even for the low standards we have become used to.

roadmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122510076#Comment_122510076

Did TII orginally approve funds for this project that they did not have or was the funding diverted to another project?

DumbBrunette

TII's annual report for 2023 is out and though it doesn't make a big issue of the funding shortfall, it does mention the effect of high inflation on TII's business.

Roads funding actually fell in 2023 for the second year in a row, see my breakdown below between road improvement funding and maintenance from TII reports:

Improvement/maintenance
2017: 266m/38m
2018: 312m/36m
2019: 395m/34m
2020: 480m/35m
2021: 658m/35m
2022: 569m/35m
2023: 505m/35m

Another telling figure is the 35m for maintenance, which hasn't changed much for the last 6 years. Given the high levels of construction inflation, it's no wonder projects are being delayed.

The only bit of good news I could find in the 2023 report (and it's old news really) is that TII expect all road projects to move much faster from 2026 due to an expected increase in funding.

Pale Red

A pedantic question, are the allocations (the money provided by government) much different from expenditure (the value of cheques written). There could, in theory, be €10bn allocated for 2025 but not a hope of spending that due the lack of shovel ready projects and capacity.

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122541839#Comment_122541839

Ah the fabled increase of 2026. The problem is that there will be nothing ready to start construction in 2026 but apart from the Slane and Ardee bypasses. There is nothing else with ABP now and anything which goes in to them now won't go to construction in 2026.

marno21

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41463547.html

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122548558#Comment_122548558

Pretty much the same point I have been making here for a couple of years now. Part of the issue is that TII have made almost everything a major project now.

marno21

https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2024/09/17/fianna-fail-tds-seek-more-money-in-budget-for-roadworks-in-row-with-greens/

Another row between Fianna Fáil and the Greens about this issue

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122548576#Comment_122548576

And another part of the problem is annual funding. Arguably this is the best chance we've ever had (the Apple windfall and exchequer surplus) to give TII a multi-annual budget. Set it up for 4 years now (2025 to 2028) and have the 2029 amount added in budget 2025, the 2030 amount added in budget 2026 etc. It might provide a good opportunity for TII to progress big projects and a good opportunity to track sustainable:unsustainable transport expenditure, because the current annual allocation will cause individual projects to massively skew the figures.

The fear is, would TII just come back with cap-in-hand anyway, like the HSE do.