Vol. 522 No. 2
173 Mr. D. Carey asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that persons (details supplied) in County Clare have suffered two severe floods from the Termon district in south Galway, whose turlough is active beside their house and is currently in the Eastbourne SAC; and if he will work with Dúchas and Clare County Council in order that these small farmers can escape from the sudden and perpetual flooding of their homes. [18145/00]
The Office of Public Works, as part of a steering group which I established to draw up specific works packages for alleviating flooding problems in the south Galway area, is currently working with Dúchas, the local authority and local farming organisations in the south Galway area to investigate the feasibility of developing a flood relief scheme to alleviate the excessive flooding in the Termon area of south Galway, which also adversely affects the home of the individuals concerned in County Clare.
As the Termon scheme will require the transfer of waters from the south Galway area into the adjacent Fergus river catchment, Clare County Council will also be involved in the decision making process for the scheme. Any scheme being considered which would involve the transfer of water into the Fergus river catchment or would be likely to adversely impact on that area would have an assessment of its implications as a prime requirement.
The Termon scheme is only at the feasibility stage, so it is not possible at present to indicate precisely what the final extent of the scheme proposals for the area might be, or to say if it is possible to have a scheme at all having regard to all the various factors to be determined, including environmental impacts and mitigation measures, costs, benefits, etc.
