Ministers for Transport announce €1.5m funding for roads

The Ministers for Transport have announced €1.5 million funding for national, regional and local roads.

This is a 13 per cent increase in road funding over 2025.

The €718 million allocation for regional and local roads will allow approximately 2,800 km of roads to be maintained and 2,330 km to be improved.

This includes €50 million for strategic road improvement projects, including projects identified for development under the National Development Plan.

There is also €20 million in Specific Grants for smaller-scale road improvements.

This includes the safety scheme on the R332 Kilbannon, Co. Galway; the rehabilitation of Archdeacon Duggan Bridge in Co. Cork; and the Kilkelly Relief Road in Co. Mayo.

99 projects in this category will be funded in 2026.

Also included in the funding is €18 million for bridge rehabilitation works, €350m for road pavement strengthening works, €16.2m for Community Involvement Schemes, and €70m for Specific and Strategic Regional and Local Roads Projects.

Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien said: "Advancing the new national road projects in the current National Development Plan and the Sectoral Investment Plan for Transport is a priority for this government, along with the protection and renewal of the existing national, regional and local road network.

"Government is committed to assisting affected local authorities with financial support to assist with the aftermath of Storm Chandra. My Department is liaising with affected counties, who are continuing to compile and assess damage on the ground to enable proper estimation of the total damage caused and the estimated cost of remediation.

“The allocations I’m announcing today will enable multiple major new road projects on the national road network to progress, including those that are at or are close to construction. This will enable greater connectivity across our country, support economic development, and deliver safer roads and less congested towns and communities.

“Projects such as the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge, the M28 and the Adare Bypass, which are currently in construction, demonstrate the clear commitment to the ongoing development of our national road network.

Taken together with the new road projects, which are at an earlier stage of the project lifecycle, an increased number of new national roads projects have been allocated funding this year."

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Healy-Rae, described it as a decisive step change in restoring and rebuilding Ireland’s road network after years of decline.

“There is no point pretending otherwise, our national road network was allowed to crumble over recent years due to a regressive approach taken toward roads investment by the Green Party.

"That approach failed rural Ireland, failed businesses and failed communities.

“What people want to see is simple, tar, tar and more tar. They want to see roads repaired, resurfaced and made safe. They want to see dangerous stretches improved and long-promised projects progressed.

This programme delivers exactly that, real works on the ground and real improvements for communities right across Ireland.”