New €84m fund to fix rural roads this year (See how much your county got)

At the end of January, the Government announced funding of €106m would be provided this year to address storm and flooding damage that was caused to transport infrastructure in recent months.

Following further contact with Local Authorities and transport agencies, the Minister for Transport Pascal Donohoe has confirmed that €85m is being allocated immediately to Local Authorities for works to be carried out on regional and local roads.

This allocation is intended to facilitate Local Authorities to press ahead with their work programmes as quickly as possible.

There will be a particular focus on repair works, drainage and preventative works to address flooding on roads which have been subject to repeated incidents of flooding in recent years.

Further funding for regional and local roads will be allocated in May and this will give Local Authorities time to undertake further analysis of proposed measures including, where necessary, specialist bridge investigations, with a view to determining which measures can be implemented this year.

In this context, it will be possible for Local Authorities to carry out planning and feasibility studies to address difficult problems and charge the costs to the severe weather grant.

In addition, an allocation of €8 million is being provided to Transport Infrastructure Ireland for works on national roads and a further €8 million is being allocated to Irish Rail for repairs to rail infrastructure.