asked the Minister for Finance if it is intended to transfer the drainage section of the Office of Public Works to the Department of Agriculture, and if so, when; if it is intended to allocate the maintenance of drainage work, which is currently done by direct labour, to private contractors; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Arterial Drainage Policy.
146.
1. The Government have decided on a major reorganisation of policy on arterial drainage. The reorganisation is designed to improve efficiency in carrying out arterial drainage schemes and thus achieve better value for money spent on these schemes by the taxpayer.
2. Under the reorganisation:
—the Minister for Agriculture will be given responsibility for arterial drainage projects and for the maintenance of completed arterial drainage schemes.
—responsibility for paying for arterial drainage maintenance will be transferred from local authorities to the Department of Agriculture.
—future arterial drainage schemes will be undertaken on the basis of revised criteria agreed with the Department of Finance and following formal consultation with the Minister for Tourism, Fisheries and Forestry.
—funding of projects and maintenance will be primarily through the Department of Agriculture Vote.
—the merits of carrying out works by contract rather than by direct labour will be assessed to ensure works are carried out as cheaply as possible.
—the necessary action with regard to staffing in OPW and Department of Agriculture as a result of these decisions will be examined immediately by an inter-departmental committee.
Background to the Government decision:
3. These changes are in line with the Government's overall approach to public spending in preparing the 1987 budget. The guiding principles will be the viability of all future projects and value-for-money.
4. Arterial drainage is primarily the concern of farmers and the agricultural community generally. Responsibility for this important aspect of agricultural activity will now, for the first time, lie where it belongs — with the Minister for Agriculture.
5. The Minister for Agriculture and his Department are in the best position to decide if particular drainage schemes provide an adequate return on investment and whether they justify the allocation of funds from his Vote.
6. Cost-benefit studies may have been unduly optimistic about returns on investment in drainage schemes. Future schemes will be evaluated on revised criteria to be applied before work is undertaken. These criteria will be agreed between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Finance before the planning of new works is started.
7. The new criteria will include the improved cost benefit approach detailed in the Review of Arterial Drainage (prepared by the Office of Public Works and to be published shortly), satisfactory minimum rates of return on investment, low maintenance costs, rigid control of expenditure on works, etc.
Beneficiaries:
8. Those whose land is being drained are not, at present, sufficiently involved in decision making, even though return on investment depends on the beneficiaries being willing and able to exploit fully the effects of drainage. In future they will be involved in prior consultation on the scope of projects, monitoring of progress and overcoming difficulties.
9. Their active commitment to derive benefit from schemes in future could be secured by requiring beneficiaries of arterial drainage schemes to form local committees through which contact with the Department of Agriculture on drainage schemes would be maintained.
10. One of the functions of the committees will be to collect modest local prior contribution towards the cost of future arterial drainage projects. This will acknowledge the enhanced use and value of the land following drainage. The manner of collection would be for the committee to decide and would not involve the Minister for Agriculture.
11. What has been achieved to date through arterial drainage has benefited not only farmers but also other groups such as local authorities, which have gained through the bridge building, road improvement and relief of flooding in urban areas associated with drainage schemes. The possibility of funding aspects of any future drainage schemes in part by such bodies will also be explored.
Maintenance Work
12. At present no on-going assessment is made of the benefits to farmers in carrying out maintenance work. The criteria for maintenance in future will be no different from the criteria to be applied to new schemes, that is, that money should be spent on maintenance where it is shown to be cost effective in maintaining the original estimated rate of return and that beneficiaries should make a realistic contribution towards the cost.
Contract Work:
13. The carrying out of arterial drainage works by direct labour makes cost control difficult as variations in the duration of projects can be made too easily. Contract work with its requirements of tendering and stated periods for completion may be more effective in controlling expenditure. Contracts will therefore be used on a trial basis on the schemes at present in progress so that a yard stick exists against which the cost effectiveness of carrying out drainage work by contract could be measured.
Role of the Minister for Agriculture:
14. The schemes at planning stage or in the OPW priority list, and the Shannon will be for reassessment by the Minister for Agriculture in the objective manner proposed in the review. Existing schemes will, of course, be continued to completion.
15. The assessment of the need for continuing maintenance on existing schemes and the initiation of any legislation found necessary to allow for abandonment of schemes not providing an adequate return on maintenance would be the priority areas for the Minister for Agriculture.
Implications for Local Authorities:
16. The proposals above mean a transfer of responsibility for arterial drainage maintenance from local authorities to the Department of Agriculture. The annual amounts required by the Department of Agriculture for maintenance will be deducted from the rate support grant in the Department of the Environment Vote. Arrears payable by local authorities to OPW for maintenance works carried out in the past will also be deducted from the rate support grant. The period over which the arrears will be cleared will be settled in consultation with the Department of the Environment.
Staffing Implications:
17. It is intended that the staffing consequences of these decisions will be examined by an inter-departmental committee on which the Departments of the Public Service, Finance and Agriculture and OPW would be represented.