asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware that Galway County Council propose charging £2 per metre for road restoration to all group water schemes in future; whether he approves of this charge; and whether a similar charge is levied by any other local authority.
Ceisteanna — Questions Oral Answers. - County Galway Group Water Schemes.
13.
Road restoration charges in each county are a matter for decision by the county council as a roads authority. I am aware that Galway County Council did propose to charge £2 per metre for road restoration to all group water schemes.
The council, however, in a recent letter to my Department indicated that they are offering to groups an alternative arrangement which provides for an agreement with each group individually based on an estimate for road restoration costs applicable to the group and taking account of any savings which the group could achieve. My Department in a letter to Galway County Council have welcomed this alternative.
Full particulars of charges by local authorities for road restoration works in relation to group schemes are not available in my Department. However, in general I believe charges made are considerably below the actual cost and I am not aware of any case where a charge of £2 per metre is made.
Would the Minister agree that usually group water schemes are carried out in very remote areas by people who have waited a long time for a water supply and cannot afford to wait any longer for the local authority to provide that supply? They decide to provide it themselves at a cost of hundreds of pounds. Does he not feel that local authorities should accept responsibility for the restoration of a road since the people have accepted responsibility for the provision of a water supply which the local authority could be expected to provide in some cases?
I agree with the Deputy about the value of group water schemes. The practice as to how much is charged and what the county council do in regard to the restoration of roads varies from county to county. I believe some counties do not make any charge and others, as in the case of Galway, make an effort to charge £2 per metre. It varies considerably.
Is the Minister aware that this £2 per metre being charged by Galway County Council as a road opening licence is adding £500 to the price of houses in many of the schemes? Is he further aware that these schemes cannot operate because Galway County Council have no money to restore the roads and, as a result, they are going to the Department of the Environment seeking money? Is the Minister prepared to provide this money for road restoration?
I am aware that this was in the mind of Galway County Council because, like all local authorities, they are caught tightly for money now. As I said—perhaps Deputy Donnellan did not hear me—Galway County Council are no longer charging this £2. It has been scrapped.
Since when?
Will the Minister consider issuing a direction to local authorities indicating his feelings on the matter that in future such costs should be borne by the local authorities?
Not off the top of my head. I will have that examined.
Can the Minister tell me when it was abolished?
I am not sure — sometime last month I think. It has been abolished anyway.
I should like to add to what Deputy Donnellan said. Will the Minister make money available to Galway County Council? There was a commitment by some Fine Gael representatives in County Galway during the election that if they were returned to power they would make this money available. I want to hear now whether that money will be made available. Will the Minister confirm that?
That is a separate question.
I am supporting Deputy Donnellan.
If the Deputy puts down a question I will answer it. I have no notice of this.
I want to endorse what Deputy Donnellan and Deputy Kitt have said. Galway County Council never agreed to the charge of £2. The officials suggested this £2 and it was sent to the Minister for sanction. We were told that if Fine Gael got into power this £2 would be supplied by the Department of the Environment. Will the Minister live up to the promise given in Galway?
I do not want to come between the Galway Deputies.
I should like to hear a reply to the last question before I ask my question.
I have the same difficulty.
I have said three or four times that the £2 no longer applies. Did Deputies not hear that?
Since when?
Some time in the last month. I am not sure whom Deputy Burke informed. I notice that he stayed very quiet in this, but Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn certainly was informed about the thing.
(Interruptions.)
She may not have informed Deputy Killilea or Deputy Molloy.
All right, Deputy Killilea and possibly Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn were informed but I doubt very much if Deputy Molloy was.
Deputy Power put a question about the Minister conveying his views to local authorities. Did I understand the Minister for the Environment to say that he would not answer that question off the top of his head?
No, Deputy Power asked me if I would convey my views to the local authorities and say that the Department would pick up the cost of road restoration. I said that certainly I would convey my views because I agree with what he said about the benefit to the community generally of the water supply schemes, but that I would not off the top of my head say that my Department would pick up the cost, because I do not know what the cost is.
It seems to me——
Deputy Haughey, a final supplementary.
It is very important. It seems to me that here we have a Minister for the Environment with a question putdown which is very specific in its terms and gives a very clear set of circumstance and the Minister for the Environment comes into this House and says that he is not prepared to answer a very specific question relating to these circumstances.
You are not listening.
I did listen.
You are not really listening at all. I answered the specific question put down to me. Deputy Power enlarged that to embrace all local authorities whose primary function it is to—
(Interruptions.)
May I finish, a Cheann Comhairle? These people who have been very anxious to ask questions were very slow to answer them when they were over here.
The Minister.
I apologise.
It varies from county to county. Some counties do pay the total cost of road restoration, others do not. I instanced an example of that, Galway County Council, who endeavoured to impose a charge of £2 per metre which was not accepted by my Department and which is now being withdrawn. I agree with Deputy Power that these group water schemes are of tremendous value to the country and the economy of the country as a whole. He asked me if I would accept responsibility in my Department for the cost of road restoration for the whole country and I said that I would not because here in this House I do not know off the top of my head what the cost is and I am not going to enter into a commitment of that nature without knowing what it costs.
Does the Minister agree that the question refers specifically to "any other local authority"? Therefore, it covers all the local authorities in the country and the Minister for the Environment comes in here and pleads that he cannot answer a specific question off the top of his head.
The Deputy did not listen.
I did.
I answered that and said that full particulars of charges by local authorities for road restoration in relation to group schemes are not available in my Department. That was the first thing I said here.
May I clarify?
A final supplementary.
I was not informed by anybody concerning this.
Only Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn.
(Interruptions.)
You are allowed to ask a final supplementary.
The £2 mentioned in the question was a suggestion by the officials of Galway County Council which was brought about at a time just prior to the general election.
A Deputy
Propaganda.
Now that the election is over——
A question.
Has the Minister given an assurance to several Members and several candidates from his party who publicly spoke from the platform saying that they, if returned to office, would not be charging the £2? Has he reimbursed Galway County Council in some way or other for the amount of money to do the road restoration? That is what I want to find out.
This is a final supplementary.
I will repeat for the fourth time, the £2 per metre proposed to be charged by Galway County Council is not now in operation. That is the fourth time I have said that.
It was not proposed to be charged by Galway County Council.
It was.
It was proposed to be charged by officials of Galway County Council.
The remaining questions will appear on the Order Paper for the next sitting day.