To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether he has any plans to introduce a scheme to repair roads, used by the public, which have fallen into disrepair and pose a threat to safety, where an owner cannot be ascertained and where closing the road would create a negative impact on the surrounding infrastructure.

My Department has no responsibility for roads that have not been adopted into the public road network and any proposal to introduce a scheme to repair unadopted roads would require funding to be diverted from the repair of the adopted road network, for which my Department has legal responsibility. Additionally, this would lead to a permanent liability for all defects on those roads my Department repaired but are not part of the adopted network.

There are processes whereby my Department can adopt a private road into the public road network, however they require the road to be brought to an adoptable standard prior to the adoption with costs borne by those wishing to have the road adopted.