Demand for more road funding

A demand for additional funding for local roads is being made of Tánaiste Micheál Martin by his party college local Fianna Fáil TD, Brendan Smith.

Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Smith acknowledged a "welcome and much-needed increase" in Government funding for the non-national road network in recent years but pointed out that inflation has eaten into available resources.

"The costs of bituminous overlay pavement products, concrete and aggregates, the main products used in roadworks, have risen dramatically.

"I would like assurance that in the mid-year review of the 2023 capital programme, priority will be given to a further allocation to local authorities of grant aid for regional, county and local roads. The councils in my constituency, Cavan and Monaghan county councils, have the capacity to put such funding to good use in the best interests of rural communities," said Deputy Smith.

In response, the Tánaiste said that €626M had already been allocated nationally this year, compared to €597M overall in 2022 but Mr Martin accepted that construction inflation is an issue.

"We take on board what the Deputy said about mid-term reviews and to examine... whether we can deploy more capital for it this year."