asked the Minister for the Environment if he will sanction the commencement of the Adrigole group water scheme, County Cork.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Water and Sewerage Schemes.
20.
Cork County Council are investigating the possibility of providing headworks for this very high cost scheme. The council have recently furnished a revised design and estimate of cost for these headworks to my Department and these documents are now the subject of discussion between my Department's technical adviser and Cork County Council.
21.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he has allocated any money for Lough Guitane water scheme, County Kerry.
I assume the Deputy is referring to the Central Kerry Regional Water Scheme which is based on Lough Guitane. Kerry County Council submitted preliminary proposals for the Central Kerry Regional Water Supply Scheme on 20 April 1979. The proposed scheme comprised six separate contracts. The Department conveyed approval to the proposals to the council on 25 June 1979 and requested submission of contract documents for contracts Nos. 1-5 of the proposed scheme.
I approved the seeking of tenders for contract No. 1 on 23 March 1981. The question of loan finance will not arise until the recommended tenders are submitted to my Department and approved by me. Contract documents for Contract No. 3 were received by my Department on 19 February 1981 and are under examination. I have also approved contract documents, a tender and a loan of £100,000 for contract 6A, Tralee Ring Main, which is urgently required to serve, inter alia, the new County Hospital in Tralee. The submission of contract documents for contracts 2, 4 and 5 is awaited.
Do I gather that there is a delay on the part of Kerry County Council in submitting this?
No, I have not said that.
Do I gather that there is a delay in the Minister's Department in providing the money to go ahead with the necessary contracts?
No.
If the delay is not in the council, surely it must be in the Department?
No. The Deputy must not have been following the reply.
I have been following it. The council submitted contract documents in February and the Department are still looking at them.
That is for scheme No. 3. It is under examination.
The scheme is over two years old. What are you doing about it?
We have sanctioned the scheme and they are going ahead.
You are doing practically nothing about it. You are bluffing.
We know you would like to think that, but that is not the position.
22.
asked the Minister for the Environment the date on which he received an application from Meath County Council to sanction Ratoath sewerage scheme, County Meath; the amount of money involved; if sanction has been given; and if so, when the scheme is likely to commence.
Preliminary proposals were received in my Department on 19 November for the carrying out of Ratoath sewerage scheme by direct labour at an estimated cost of £165,000.
The submission by Meath County Council of further data required in connection with the technical examination of the proposals is awaited.
19 November of what year?
1980.
Is the Minister saying that Meath County Council are responsible for the delay?
We require some additional information and Meath County Council are providing that.
When was Meath County Council asked for the additional information?
The day before yesterday?
Meath County Council were informed by letter on 23 April 1981 that the preliminary reports submitted were incomplete and they were requested to complete their submission.
A good try by the Minister. Is the Minister in a position to say that if Meath County Council send back the necessary information next week — that is only a ploy — the Department will be in a position to make available the necessary money to have the work carried out? The men are there and the necessity is there.
There will be no avoidable delay on our part.
There will be a delay if the Minister does not have the money.
23.
asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of the serious position in relation to Midleton, County Cork, he will now sanction the new sewerage scheme there and arrange for the provision of a treatment plant if it should be required subsequently.
One of the difficulties in proceeding with the scheme as planned has been the decision of Cork County Council not to proceed with it unless it incorporates a treatment plant, which would greatly increase the cost and impose a very heavy financial burden on Midleton UDC. In a letter of 1 May 1981 from Cork County Council the suggestion has been made that it may be possible to resolve the impasse by an arrangement whereby the scheme as planned would proceed on an undertaking being given that its operation would be monitored and that if the effluent came to exceed an accepted level, a treatment plant would be provided.
This is being examined, but I must await the advice of other Departments. The Department of Fisheries and Forestry have been asked for their views as to any likely adverse effect of the proposed scheme and the Department of Health is being consulted about the possible effects of the proposed scheme on the quality of oysters taken from the local oyster beds. There is also an application to the Department of Transport for a foreshore licence for the proposed discharge of sewage at Rathcoursey Point.
Is the Minister saying that Cork County Council will not agree to the scheme proceeding unless there is a treatment plant provided?
Yes, that is the position.
Did I understand the Minister to say that the problem which was causing the delay was that the county council wanted to install a treatment plant with the sewerage scheme?
Midleton Urban Council feel that this is not necessary and that this would impose too much of a financial burden on them.
Is it the Minister for the Environment who sanctions the proposals put forward? Will the Minister give his opinion as to whether a treatment plant is necessary? Is the Minister prepared to sanction a plant that will spew raw sewage into Cork Harbour?
This matter is being investigated at present. All details are being looked at closely.
At the outfall end?
If the scheme goes ahead without the requirement that Cork County Council are seeking, there is no reason why it cannot be provided afterwards, if there is a need for it.
Is the Minister saying that he would consider sanctioning a scheme, even temporarily, that would have the effect of releasing raw untreated sewage into Cork Harbour? Is the Minister suggesting that?
I have said that if the situation that is feared by Cork County Council materialised steps could be taken to remedy it.
Next question.
Does the Minister agree that it has been the aim of most local government departments throughout the world to provide treatment plants in connection with every sewerage scheme? Surely it is a reversal on the part of his Department for him to be considering the suggestion of installing a sewerage scheme without treatment facilities?
Nobody has said that is so.
The Minister is proposing to pollute Cork Harbour.
I did not say that. In my reply I outlined the different proposals that exist and I do not take it from the reply I read out that there is any question of discharging raw sewage into Cork Harbour.
The Minister should move on to Question No. 24.
What number of people are being served by this scheme?
Ceist 24.
24.
asked the Minister for the Environment when he will sanction money for a new sewerage treatment plant for Donegal town, County Donegal.
The proposals submitted to my Department by Donegal County Council for the disposal of the Donegal town sewage provide for its discharge from a tidal holding tank through a sea outfall with diffuser to estuarial waters after communication. I am advised that the volume of water in the estuary is adequate to dilute the effluent to acceptable levels and that on the basis of information currently available the provision of further treatment is not warranted. Contract documents for this scheme are under consideration in my Department, and I am not as yet in a position to say when a decision thereon can be conveyed to the local authority. The question of the sanction of money will not arise until the scheme has been fully approved.
When did the Department receive the contract documents?
During the by-election?
The contract documents for stage 1 of the scheme were approved in 1974 and in 1978 Donegal County Council submitted proposals for stage 1.
The Minister has the documents for three years in his Department and has not done anything about them.
No such thing but, as I said yesterday, it takes a lot to make up for the neglect of the years the Coalition were in office.
The Minister is slow but this takes beating.
25.
asked the Minister for the Environment when work will commence on the Lettermacaward regional water scheme, County Donegal; and if money has now been allocated.
I advised Donegal County Council in November 1980 that it was in order to advertise for tenders for this scheme. I understand the tenders are being examined by the local authority and will be submitted shortly to my Department. On 4 May, I notified the council that I approved this scheme for grant assistance under the FEOGA "Western Package". The grant will be allocated following the issue of my sanction to the acceptance of tender for the scheme. The grant will cover 90 per cent of the estimated cost of the scheme made up of an 80 per cent grant from my Department and a 10 per cent grant from Roinn na Gaeltachta. The remaining 10 per cent will be financed by way of Local Loans Fund loan.
Can the Minister say whether the scheme referred to in his reply includes all of the pipe work and distribution system or merely the head works?
It includes all the work involved in the scheme.
When was that scheme advertised for tender?
It was advertised for tender on 7 November 1980.
I remember it well. Does the Minister not realise that the scheme advertised for tender in November 1980 was for the head works only?
That is not so. I am not aware of what was advertised for tender at that stage but I am aware now of what is involved.
The Minister's colleagues knew about it and they were representing at the church gates there the following Sunday that they would do it.
Any promises made during the by-election there are being well fulfilled.
(Interruptions.)
Is the Minister aware that I was outside Lettermacaward church on Sunday, November 2, when the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Burke, made the shortest after-Mass church-gate speech I ever heard, and told the people that the money had been passed for the scheme and the work would proceed forthwith?
The following day?
It is proceeding with the 90 per cent grant.
Ceist 26.
It is only the head works.