Tipperary roads funding
Deputy Kelly welcomed some road funding but said the local allocation for Tipperary had fallen and pressed for more money. The Minister said he did not have county breakdowns, stressed record transport capital spending and contingency funding, and promised the Minister would reply on annual figures.
Last week, the Government made announcements in relation to regional, national and local roads. In the context of County Tipperary, €57.7 million in funding was announced. Some €12.5 million was announced for Latteragh, which is a very important road between Thurles and Nenagh. That funding is welcome. However, Councillor Fiona Bonfield of the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil's cathaoirleach of the council got a breakdown of the funding. It turns out that €8.3 million is for local and regional roads. That is nearly €1 million less than what was provided last year. The cathaoirleach of the council, Councillor John Carroll of Fianna Fáil, was very critical of the Government and the allocation. He said that the county is going backwards. Is there a way in which the Government can do something about this? As we all know, the recent storms and heavy rain have destroyed local and regional roads, particularly those in north Tipperary. We have a large proportion of roads in the county. Will there be supplementary funding in this regard? It is desperately needed. When the cathaoirleach of the council, who is from the Minister's party, is criticising the Government, we know it is desperately needed.
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I do not have the specific breakdown relating to the various counties in front of me. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has secured a record level of capital investment in transport-----
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-----of €24 billion over the next five years. He has also sought to reprofile some of that funding towards investment in local, regional and national roads in order that we can build out our road network further. There is contingency in some of the funding allocations to ensure that some of the issues relating to storm damage will also be addressed. We are trying to have a wider assessment of recent storm damage in the context of potentially providing-----
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-----additional funding from the overall contingency for road infrastructure that has been badly damaged. Obviously, councils have to be supported in remedying that damage. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come back to the Deputy on the annualised figures. I do not have them here.