Galway has received €942,000 for minor roads that do not fall under the remit of the County Council as part of funding announced today under the Local Improvement Scheme.
This is a very welcome boost for the county and rural areas in particular. I negotiated for the reintroduction of the Local Improvement Scheme as part of the Programme for Government and I am delighted that we are delivering on this. Out of a national allocation of €10m, Galway will receive nearly €1m, the second highest county allocation in the country.
This funding is additional to the almost €5.7m previously allocated to Galway County Council for regional and local roads announced earlier this month (February). Local authorities were informed of the grants by the Department of Rural and Community Development today (Tuesday). They will then have until March 23 to revert with the list of projects for the scheme.
The department will fund up to 90% of the cost of road improvements where there are five or fewer eligible residents and 85% where there are six or more residents. The remainder will be provided by the road users. The project proposals have to include an estimation of costs, verification of the local contribution and details of the number of road users.