Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney has asked Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to explain the criteria used to allocate funding for national road maintenance, upgrades, and safety schemes, questioning why some local authorities receive full funding while others secure substantially less.
The Clare TD said he wanted to know why seemingly similar projects in different counties could have very different funding outcomes, despite local authorities having costed the works they proposed.
His request follows a parliamentary question on project proposals submitted to TII for national road maintenance, upgrades and safety schemes in 2025 and 2026.
The figures show that local authorities requested €7.44 million in 2026, of which €5.78 million had been allocated. This leaves a shortfall of approximately €1.66 million between the amounts sought and the funding allocated to date.
Seven local authorities received 100 per cent of the funding sought in both years: Cavan, Donegal, Galway County, Leitrim, Limerick City and County, Mayo and Sligo.
However, the funding outcomes varied considerably elsewhere. Tipperary received €251,000 of the €653,000 requested in 2026, while Cork County Council received €565,793 of €1.25 million sought. Westmeath received €104,300 of the €232,625 requested.
In 2025, Westmeath received no funding from €150,290 sought, while Louth received just €2,554 of its €26,554 request.
Deputy Cooney said the differences raised questions about how applications were assessed and whether necessary works could be completed to the required standard when only part of the requested funding was approved.
“Given the importance of our national roads, why are some projects receiving full funding while seemingly very similar projects in other counties are only receiving partial funding?” he asked.
“What are the criteria for funding these projects, and why are applications for what appear to be very similar works having such different outcomes?”
Deputy Cooney said local authorities prepared their funding requests based on the works they considered necessary and the associated costs. He questioned whether partial allocations could leave councils in a position where urgently required works were only partly completed.
“We need to establish whether we are putting ourselves in a situation where works that are urgently required are only being partially completed because the full funding requested has not been made available,” he said.
He argued that fully funding the projects would help ensure longer-term improvements were completed rather than relying on interim repairs.
“For the sake of providing the additional €1.6 million requested in 2026, we could be future proofing the sections of road in question and ensuring that the necessary upgrades are completed,” he said.
The overall allocation for 2026 is substantially higher than in 2025. Funding rose from €2.57 million to €5.78 million, while the amount requested increased from €4.03 million to €7.44 million.
The proportion of funding allocated against the amounts requested also increased, from 63.7 per cent in 2025 to 77.7 per cent in 2026.
However, the figures show that the proportion of requests met differed significantly between authorities. Tipperary received 38.4 per cent of the amount sought in 2026.
Deputy Cooney said he had asked TII to clarify the basis for its decisions and explain how it ensured that funding was allocated consistently to local authorities responsible for maintaining the national road network.