Council chiefs may get greater say in spending road maintenance grants

The Government is considering giving local authority managers more discretion over how they spend road maintenance grants.

Public Transport Minister Alan Kelly made the comments yesterday as he defended a multi-million investment in bus and cycle lanes in Cork City at a time when money cannot be found to repair crumbling roads and fill huge potholes.

There has been growing criticism in recent months over the appalling state of the country’s secondary and rural roads, and the continual slashing of road maintenance grants.

In Cork county alone, the Government’s road maintenance grant has fallen from €106m in 2009 to €48m this year.

Earlier this month, Cork county manager Martin Riordan said that many of the road grants allocated to Cork County Council are for specific projects.

He said the council should be given a lump sum and allowed the discretion to spend the money where it was felt it was most needed.

Speaking in Cork, Mr Kelly said the Government is aware of, and is considering, the issue. “We are looking at changes in relation to how funding for roads will be administered by local authorities,” he said.

“It is something we have discussed at government level, at sub-cabinet level, and will be discussed at cabinet level. We are looking at how allocations will be given to local authorities. And some more discretion is probably needed.”

The Government is also examining several pilot schemes involving communities in council areas with a large regional and tertiary road network: “If the schemes are successful, we will look at expanding them in the coming years.”

But he defended ploughing €8.3m into public transport improvements.

“It is absolutely the right time to be spending money on public transport,” he said. “We need to facilitate people in a safe environment to cycle more.

“We need to increase the volume of people who are commuting by bike, and increase the knowledge and awareness of public transport to ensure it is used more.”