asked the Minister for Agriculture if the representatives of the Farm Development Services of his Department at a meeting with representatives of the Ballyfinboy drainage committee, County Tipperary agreed to act as consulting engineers in a contract to drain the Ballyfinboy river; if he and his Department were subsequently aware and took sight of a written contract between the contractors and representatives of the Ballyfinboy drainage committee to drain the Ballyfinboy river in which the Farm Development Services were the consultants so named in this contract and if the Farm Development Services at that time or subsequently informed the Ballyfinboy drainage committee in the course of the following 12 months that they were not the consulting engineers on the project; if he is aware that his officials in the Farm Development Services gave unequovical assurances to the representatives of the Ballyfinboy drainage committee that his Department would pay full costs for all additional rock excavated over and above the estimated amount which they, his representatives, had provided for; if he is further aware that his officials in the Farm Development Services, at a number of meetings in December 1984 and January 1985, with representatives of the Ballyfinboy drainage committee and representatives of the contractor agreed that a sum in excess of £140,000 was due to the contractor as of 31 December 1984 and under the terms of the contract that the Farm Development Services were obliged as consulting engineers under the terms of the contract to issue a certificate for this amount to the contractor within two weeks; and if he will now state the reason his Department has refused to issue this certificate; and if he will take the appropriate steps to issue the certificate immediately and the costs to date on the river.
Written Answers. - Ballyfinboy (Tipperary) Drainage Project.
In accordance with the normal practice regarding joint drainage projects such as the Ballyfinboy drainage scheme, my Department's role is limited to approving a scheme of works for grant purposes, and to paying the appropriate grant in one or more instalment as the scheme, or portions thereof, are satisfactorily completed. In the case of the Ballyfinboy project, my Department on 1 March 1982 approved a scheme of works to be undertaken by a committee representing the landowners benefiting from the project. The project was estimated to cost £236,184 and a grant of £122,651 payable to the representatives of the drainage committee was approved, representing 100 per cent of the estimated cost of works relating to county council bridges affected by the scheme and 45 per cent of the estimated cost of the remaining works. Subsequently, my Department agreed to increase the grant rate for works other than county council bridges from 45 per cent to 50 per cent, thus increasing the overall grant offered to £132,972. It was also indicated to the drainage committee that, in accordance with normal practice, costs arising from unforeseen expenditure would be taken into account for grant purposes on a standard basis. I am satisfied that officials of my Department did not undertake to pay the full costs arising from the excavation of rock encountered over and above the quantity included in the original cost estimate. Neither did officials of my Department at any time agree to act as consulting engineers to the project. My Department first became aware in December 1984 that, in the contract agreement dated 15 June 1983 between the Ballyfinboy drainage committee and the contractor employed by the committee to carry out the works, the Farm Development Service had been named as consulting engineers to the project. This had been done without the knowledge or consent of my Department and any responsibility in relation to this entry in the contract has been repudiated by my Department. Consequently, the issue by my Department of certificates relating to sums due to the contractor does not arise. My Department has no official knowledge of the amounts due to the contractor. This is solely a matter for the drainage committee which has entered into a contract agreement with him.
I understand that the estimated cost of the works carried out to date on this project is approximately £380,000.