asked the Minister for the Environment if he will arrange to provide Laois County Council with funds in order to remove serious flooding problems at Shanahoe, Abbeyleix, County Laois, where after heavy rainfall the road is flooded outside the Church, cemetery and business premises; and if he will take urgent action to resolve the problem.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Shanahoe (Laois) Flooding.
13.
It is understood that the road in question is a county road. Responsibility for the planning and execution of any works on the road, including the timing and the provision of the necessary finance, rests with Laois County Council. In the case of improvement works, the local authority may at their discretion use the block grant for roads to supplement expenditure from their own resources on such works. Maintenance works on the road fall to be financed from the local authority's own resources and, in accordance with the practice established by successive Governments, State grants are not provided for such work.
I understand that the local authority are considering the question of remedial works at the location mentioned and including a provision for this work in the estimates for 1986.
Does the Minister not consider that the residents of Shanahoe are in a very awkward and difficult position since after every heavy rainfall, which means during most of this year of 1985, they were unable to negotiate the floods in order to get to Church, to the cemetery or to business premises in the area? While Laois County Council, like other local authorities, have a statutory responsibility, surely the Minister's Department must take the necessary steps to protect the public in the event of the local authorities not complying with their statutory responsibility to provide free access to these places and use of the road in general? Could the Minister actively interest himself in ensuring that this will be the last year in which the people of Shanahoe will have this appalling experience?
In 1985 Laois County Council received £303,000 in the block grant for works which can be done, including remedial improvement works for the area of Shanahoe. On 30 October of this year the Laois County Council engineer reported to the authority that the remedial and improvement works required to avoid the problem that has visited the people of Shanahoe in the past would cost approximately £18,500. I am sure Deputy Flanagan will be able to use his position of seniority in Laois County Council to effect in 1986, so that that small sum of £18,500 can be made available out of a similar block grant for 1986 for road improvements.