The Government has announced a new €10m scheme to improve non-public roads in rural areas.
The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) will pay for improvement works on private/non-public roads.
The Department of Rural and Community Development says these these roads often lead to multiple residences, land that supports agricultural activity or amenities such as lakes, rivers or the ocean.
The department will provide up to 90% of the funding through local authorities - the remaining will come from local residents or local authorities in the case of roads leading to public amenities.
Speaking at the launch of the programme at the National Ploughing Championships, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "It's a really effective scheme to improve small roads, laneways and boreens which don’t come under the control of local authorities.
"These roads give access to homes, farmyards, agricultural land and business premises, and are often heavily used, but because they fall outside of direct local authority control, many need upgrading.
"It's only right and fair that some of the motor tax, excise duty on fuel and local property tax paid by people in rural areas is invested in the repair of shared laneways that connect their homes, farms and businesses to the public road network."
The breakdown will be allocated as follows: