The Ministers for Transport have confirmed €1.5 million in funding for national, regional, and local roads.
This represents a 13 per cent increase in road funding compared with 2025, reports Breaking News.
The €718 million allocation for regional and local roads will allow around 2,800 km of roads to be maintained and 2,330 km to be improved.
This includes €50 million earmarked for strategic road improvement projects, including those identified under the National Development Plan, reports Breaking News.
An additional €20 million will be allocated through Specific Grants for smaller-scale road works.
These projects include the R332 Kilbannon safety scheme in Co. Galway, the rehabilitation of Archdeacon Duggan Bridge in Co. Cork, and the Kilkelly Relief Road in Co. Mayo.
A total of 99 projects in this category are set to receive funding in 2026, reports Breaking News.
The funding package also includes €18 million for bridge rehabilitation, €350 million for road pavement strengthening, €16.2 million for Community Involvement Schemes, and €70 million 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,
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“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, reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Healy-Rae, described the funding as a decisive step 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,” reports Breaking News.
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