982. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to ensure road repair budgets are provided by the Department of Transport when issuing felling licences under the Single Consent System in County Clare and throughout the State so that roads damaged in felling and transportation operations can be promptly repaired. [64829/26]

While my Department does not have a role in local authority budgets or in the financing of the repair and maintenance of public roads, my Department does provide grant aid assistance to private landowners who wish to build a forest road on their property. Grant aid is only provided to those forest roads that have received a forest road licence from my Department.

Where an applicant proposes a forest road that has an entrance at a public road there is a mandatory consultation process with the local authority.

The forest road network and the public road network are vital for forest owners to bring their timber to market. This provides income to the forest owner and is important for the wider rural economy. It is important, however, that timber transport is carried out in a responsible manner that minimises damage to forest roads and public roads.

Earlier this year my Department supported the production of the Good Practice Guide for Timber Transport, developed by the Forest Industry Transport Group, and this guide can help underpin safe and sustainable transport and should be used as a guide by forest owners and road transport operators to plan and undertake timber transport responsibly, safely and sustainably.

My Department also provides grant aid for timber lorry owners to retrofit a central tyre inflation system into their lorry. This system reduces the ground pressure on roads, and can reduce damage on poorer forest and public roads.