asked the Minister for the Environment the present means available for the disposal of sewage waste in the Dún Laoghaire area of County Dublin, if his attention has been drawn to the pollution being caused at the sewage outlet near Seapoint, County Dublin and the action he proposes to take in this matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Seapoint (County Dublin) Pollution.
8.
The present means of disposal of sewage in Dún Laoghaire is by a tidal tank discharging undersea through a long outfall pipe. Problems of overloading have occurred in the last year at a pumphouse which lifts portion of the sewage to the tidal tank with resulting discharges to the bay. In order to prevent overflows it will be necessary to raise the pumpchamber and reposition the electrical controls.
Dún Laoghaire Borough Corporation have submitted proposals to my Department providing for the execution of these remedial works at an estimated cost of £15,000. My Department are considering the question of financing the works involved and a decision will issue to the local authority in the near future.
I should like to express the hope that a decision will be made quickly. Can the Minister give any further information regarding when he might have a decision for Dún Laoghaire Borough Corporation?
I expect a decision will be made very shortly—in a matter of weeks.
When was the request made by the corporation to the Department?
I do not have that specific information but I understand that it was submitted with the proposals for sewerage schemes for the coming year. That would have been some time last autumn.
Assuming that the application was made some time in the autumn of last year, are we to understand that the public capital sector finances are so distraught that the expenditure of £15,000 to keep Dublin Bay clean for the one-third of the nation's population who use it involves a delay of six months in so far as a decision is concerned?
This is argument.
The Deputy is not correct.
What I have said is the inference in what the Minister has told us and it is also the information that Deputy Briscoe was trying to extract from him.
The Deputy asked me when the application was received by the Department but I do not have the specific information on that.
The Minister should have the information.
I am prepared to check the date if that is what the Deputy wishes me to do but it is only now that the allocations to local authorities are being announced. These announcements will be made with the minimum of delay. There is not any delay this year so far as applications are concerned. So far as the Department are concerned the applications have been dealt with as quickly as possible.
Can the Minister give an assurance that the pump house will be moved up and that the work will be done in the interest of those people who may swim at Seapoint during the coming summer?
That information has been given in the reply. The proposals in respect of the matter concerned are before my Department and they are being considered. In the near future a reply will issue to Dún Laoghaire Corporation and I have no reason to doubt that the work will get the go-ahead. Thereafter, the speed with which the work is carried out will be a matter for the local authority concerned. Therefore, it would not be proper for me to give the assurance being sought by the Deputy.
I am sure that Deputy Andrews will be very comfortable down at the seaside this summer.
(Interruptions.)
Order.