Funding for non-national roads cut by 39%

Transport:Funding for non-national roads will be cut by 39 per cent next year, according to pre-Budget figures released yesterday.

The reduction will be managed by the Department of Transport, which is taking over responsibility for non-national roads from the Department of the Environment.

Yesterday's figures, which are contained within the Department of the Environment's figures, show that the budget for non-national roads will fall from €87.5 million this year to €53.8 million next year.

The total pre-Budget allocation of €2.8 billion for the Department of Transport is just 1 per cent above last year's estimate and includes a number of small but significant cuts.

These include a drop of 28 per cent in funding for road safety agencies and expenses - from €37 million to €26.7 million.

There is a drop of 6 per cent in funding for the running of public transport agencies to €14.5 million and a drop of 10 per cent to €36.9 million for civil aviation supports.

The amount of money the Government has allocated to communications and navigation services for foreign military aircraft using Irish air space is to increase by 59 per cent to €3.9 million.

Another significant civil aviation cut comes under the heading of North-South co-operation, which will see a drop of 42 per cent to €3.5 million. Transport sources believed this relates to difficulties at Derry airport, the activities of which were curtailed earlier this year.

In maritime transport, the figures point to a reduction in spending on seaports and shipping of 47 per cent to €3.8 million. There is, however, a 6 per cent increase to €43 million for safety and funding for the Irish Coastguard.

There will be a 1 per cent increase in overall public transport spending to €1.072 billion. This figure was expected to be higher given that spending should be well under way on the rail and bus elements of the Transport 21 plan, in 2008.

There will be no increase in overall spending on the roads programme.

According to the figures, the estimate for 2008 is €1.6 billion. At this level, the roads programme will continue to be the largest single item in the transport budget.