Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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314. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the timeline for the completion of the Athenry ring road; and the funds that have been allocated to Galway County Council to provide for completion. [50460/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from Councils' own resources supplemented by State road grants. The initial selection and prioritisation of works to be funded is also a matter for the Council.

Any projects proposed by local authorities for consideration under the Strategic Grant Programme are assessed by the Department on a case-by-case basis.  All projects put forward by local authorities for consideration must comply with the requirements of the Public Spending Code and the Department's Capital Appraisal Framework (CAF).  Given the limited funding available for regional and local road improvement works it is important for local authorities to prioritise projects within their overall area of responsibility with these requirements in mind. All applications received from local authorities for Strategic Grant allocations have to be assessed taking into account competing projects and the available budget.

The Department has provided funding for the proposed middle section of the Athenry Ring Road to link up the two sections which have been constructed already.  The implementation of this project, which is at design stage, is being managed by Galway County Council. While the Department has made allocations available to the Council to advance the project, to date progress on this project has been slower than anticipated.