asked the Minister for Finance whether he is aware that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands is reported as saying at a meeting of the Roscommon County Council that he could say officially that the Department of Local Government had asked as a matter of urgency that some of the rivers from the county be included in an intermediate drainage scheme; and if he will indicate what progress has been made to date with this scheme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Drainage of Roscommon Rivers.
19.
The Department of Local Government have sent to the Office of Public Works recommendations from the Roscommon County Council that drainage works on the Lung River and Feorish River were beyond the capacity of the council and requests that the work should be undertaken by the Commissioners of Public Works. Those schemes will be considered but they are linked up with the treatment of the main River Shannon.
May we take as correct the statement, or alleged statement as reported in the local Press, attributed to the Parliamentary Secretary, that priority was to be given, or urged by the Department of Local Government on the Board of Works, in regard to the number of schemes going out? Is it correct that priority is not being given?
I think the Deputy will find, if he looks at the quotation in question, that the statement of the Minister for Local Government did urge the Office of Public Works to give priority to the schemes in question. My office needs no urging. We appreciate the necessity for draining these two rivers and certainly when the time comes they will get priority in my office.
May I ask if they have received priority as a result of the representations made to his Department by the council?
It all counts; it all helps.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary bear in mind that the drainage schemes for these two rivers were to be carried out by the Minister for Local Government under the same type of scheme as that for Crannaghcross river?
That is not true.
In view of the Minister's failure to honour his promise in that respect does the Parliamentary Secretary not consider that those people who are living on holdings adjoining these rivers are entitled to priority?
(Interruptions.)
That is not true.
The Minister will know about that next week when the statements of members of his own Party, repudiating his denial, will be dealt with in this House. Members of the Minister's Party have subscribed to an unanimous resolution calling on the Minister for Local Government not to break his word.
The work will be done.
(Interruptions.)
Deputy McQuillan should allow the Minister to speak.
Deputy McQuillan did not start it.
The Minister for Local Government started it; it is disgraceful to suggest otherwise.
Would the Special Employments Schemes Office agree to a local employment scheme for the upper portions of the two rivers pending the drainage of the whole lot?
I do not think it is feasible. I do not think it would be reasonable or practical or economic. I am afraid the answer would be "no."
20.
asked the Minister for Finance whether in view of the fact that portion of the drainage of the Islands River, County Roscommon was carried out under the Local Authorities (Works) Act, 1949 he will now indicate whether a scheme for the completion of the work has been prepared; and, if so, when it is going to be put into operation.
21.
asked the Minister for Finance whether any scheme for the drainage of the Clogher River, County Roscommon has been prepared; and, if so, when it is expected to commence.
22.
asked the Minister for Finance whether a drainage scheme on the Killukin River, County Roscommon will be put into operation in the near future.
23.
asked the Minister for Finance whether a scheme for the drainage of the Breedogue River, County Roscommon has been prepared; and, if so, when work is to commence.
25.
asked the Minister for Finance whether in view of the fact that £5,380 4s. 3d. has already been expended under the Local Authorities (Works) Act, 1949 on the drainage of the Feorish River North, County Roscommon and that the remainder of the river, including an important tributary, the Derreendouglas stream, urgently requires attention he will state whether a scheme for the completion of this work will be put in operation without further delay.
26.
asked the Minister for Finance whether a scheme for the completion of the drainage of the River Lung, County Roscommon will be sanctioned in the near future.
I propose to answer Questions Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 and 26 together.
The Islands River is part of the catchment area of the River Suck, a tributary of the Shannon. The Clogher, Killukin and Feorish rivers too, flow into the Shannon and the Lung and Breedogue Rivers are in the Boyle catchment area which has its outfall into the Shannon. Drainage works on all those rivers must be considered in relation to the treatment of the main River Shannon.
In view of the fact that a substantial grant has been made available for the drainage of one of the largest tributaries of the Shannon, the Inny, on the eastern bank of the Shannon, can the Parliamentary Secretary now state why it is not possible to make small grants available for the rivers concerned in Questions No. 23 and No. 22 where a sum of £4,000 in one case will restore to an arable condition 1,500 acres of land and in another case where expenditure of £4,500 will restore almost 3,000 acres to an arable condition? These figures are given by the local county surveyor. In view of this will the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that there is every justification for granting a small amount of money in an effort to bring these holdings back to a condition in which the people living on them can make a decent living?
The Inny was a unique case in which officials of the ESB and Office of Public Works engineers agreed that drainage would have no deleterious effect on the level of the Shannon because it is possible to take advantage of the balancing effect of large lakes in the Inny catchment.
Is it not a fact that the sum involved in the case of the Inny would be something like forty times the expenditure involved in the case of the rivers I mentioned and, in view of that, is the Parliamentary Secretary seriously suggesting that the drainage of these small, minor rivers would have any dangerous or harmful effect on the Shannon valley as a whole?
Yes, I am sorry to inform the Deputy that our expert advice is that while one of these small rivers might not have any deleterious effect, nevertheless the accumulated effect would aggravate the position of the Shannon.