Deputy Durkan gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of infrastructure plans for County Kildare.
Adjournment Debate. - County Kildare Infrastructure Plans.
May I at the outset thank you for allowing me to raise this issue. When I last had the privilege of raising this issue in this fashion we had spectacular success. While I would not be so presumptuous as to expect a repeat performance, I am hopeful the Minister will give the matter favourable consideration. I thank the Minister for coming into the House tonight to reply to this debate.
I am not raising this issue for cheap political capital or to castigate the Minister. I am raising it because of an obvious need. Over the past five or six years I had the privilege to be a member of the Eastern Regional Development Organisation. Within that organisation we have the local authorities of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Dublin city and county represented among other bodies. It has become very obvious that, with the reduction in the finances available to local authorities, there was a particular problem which affected counties, areas or communities immediately adjacent to large centres of population. This evening I will confine myself to my constituency of Kildare, for obvious reasons but what I say will be applicable to Wicklow and Meath, counties with large populations on the doorstep of our capital city which houses a very large population.
Kildare has been particularly adversely affected by development over the past ten or 12 years. We have had vast increases in population. In areas in north and mid Kildare the population has increased above and beyond any other part of the country. For that reason greater pressure has been put on services, on roads, on the need for rail transport services, on public buses and so on. Greater pressure has been brought to bear for us to provide much needed amenities to meet the demand of that expanding population.
There is another problem. The development within our county took place after the rates had been removed. I am not blaming the Minister for this because this is something to which all political parties contributed in one way or another, but it was a progression which was not beneficial in the long run. Unfortunately, the development in our county took place after that and we did not have the obvious benefit of the increased revenue from rates coming into our coffers over a period of time as a result of the increased population. In the capital city and county there was some recompense in that they had some development established and were able to get an income from it. However, in Kildare we were not so fortunate.
I will deal quickly with the question of roads. I raised this issue originally on the basis of the atrocious condition of our roads. I do not want to make political capital out of this issue. It is a fact of life. There is no way any Government or local authority could provide the financial requirements of road services in a county like Kildare at the present time, given the population increases and its location, next door to the capital city where every car, truck and motorbike going to or from the capital city traverses some part of County Kildare at one time or another. In tandem, we have the problem that our national primary routes were not up to standard with the result that traffic took shortcuts and ultimately our main and county roads suffered.
The Minister for the Environment gives an annual grant for the maintenance of main and county roads, but it is a far cry from what is required at present for the reasons I have outlined. There is no possibility that we would even expect a Government to be able to give the kind of funding needed to any local authority to their problems at this time. While every politician will want to be parochial — and will get credit for doing so — it would be wrong if any county were to be singled out but on the basis of our geographic location and our population overflow from the capital city, we have a unique case, as do the neighbouring counties of Meath and Wicklow. For instance, our county engineer in recent years has investigated the problem in regard to our main and county roads and submitted plans to the Department of the Environment outlining the need for capital expenditure in the order of £5 million per annum on top of existing maintenance funds. I do not except that the Government will be able to provide that money. The previous Government were not in a position to provide it and I am certain that in the present climate the Government will not be able to do so. However, it would be possible to do this work by the preparation for an integrated development programme as is now being mooted at EC level. I understand that a survey of the Dublin region has been submitted and that the ERDO have recommended that the Dublin sub-region should be included in that survey.
I gave the Deputy permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of the infrastructure appertaining to Kildare and I would be grateful to him if he would not extend that to other counties.
The reason I referred to the Dublin region and the Dublin sub-region is because the sub-region includes Maynooth, Leixlip and Celbridge. Naturally, as a person who lives in Maynooth I am enthusiastic about the idea of including those three towns in such a study. I hope the programme will be successful. However, another problem could arise in regard to this. The local authority, already under severe pressure in regard to finance, may find themselves with the onset of an integrated development programme having to divert funds from work in the rest of the county to the area included in the new programme. While people in the region will welcome the programme, such a move could have serious consequences for the remainder of the county. For that reason it is important that we contemplate the preparation of a rural integrated development programme and co-ordinate the two in such a way as to ensure that there will not be any black spots.
I am not suggesting that we should have an overlap but we could co-ordinate the two programmes in such a way as to be of tremendous benefit to the population of the county. Roads is one service that is seriously deficient at present. Their condition has obvious side-effects on public and private transport. In fact, public service vehicles refuse to travel on a number of our roads. Local milk delivery vehicles and school buses are also affected and other transport services are seriously curtailed as a result of a lack of finance for work on roads. Another area that comes within the ambit of an integrated development programme is that of jobs. In our county some of our bogs will be exhausted in the next few years and alternative arrangements for the employment of those now involved in the peat industry will have to be made. I understand that in other EC countries grant-aid is available for areas where coal mining was carried on. County Kildare is an obvious place to try out that concept. In north and south Kildare many people have been employed in the peat industry and in the related electricity generating stations. We will have to find alternative employment for them over the next ten years.
There is also a need to provide amenities in urban and rural areas for the enjoyment of the population. Our county is unique in that a carefully prepared plan has been submitted by An Foras Talúntais, Kildare County Council, Dublin and Eastern Regional Tourism, Kildare Tourism and other agencies in an effort to attract investment to provide amenities for the area. I am thinking of the Bog of Allen, Robertstown and adjoining areas. The provision of such amenities would give the local people good reason for continuing to live in the county.
There is plenty of scope to investigate alternative uses for land, whether peatland or not. We must do what we can to provide jobs in a county where the population has almost doubled in the past 20 years. We should not be reluctant or in any way bashful to put forward our case to Brussels because I understand that in the areas that will be affected by the Channel Tunnel, the south of England and northern France, local bodies have sought finance for the provision of facilities.
The Minister can do a great deal to assuage the fears of the officials of Kildare County Council who have an overview of what is likely to happen. They also have first-hand information on the restriction on the finances under their control. Our problems are twofold; the Government cannot provide the finance and it is not possible to extract sufficient money from the population in the county because of the present economic climate. We may not be able to raise £15 million to carry out the necessary roadwork — I am not taking into account employment alternatives or the development of amenities needed in urban areas — but it may be possible to get a substantial amount of that money from the EC. In that event we should be able to obtain a reduced amount from the Government. In that case it might be possible to improve the quality of life for the people of Kildare and, as a result, attract further investment.
We have a large industrial site at Collinstown near Leixlip and a number of other attractive sites in the county. They are strategically placed but it is essential that we have the infrastructure to go with them. It is also essential that we have sufficient amenities for our fast-expanding population. Where the population has expanded in other areas serious social and economic problems have arisen if essential amenities were not provided in the early stages. I should like to appeal to the Minister to give serious consideration to my suggestions and to assure him that he will get the full support of the public representatives of County Kildare. From my discussions with public representatives in neighbouring counties I have no doubt that he can count on their support.
I wish to thank Deputy Durkan for giving me the opportunity to put on record the present position. I am fully aware of the views of Kildare County Council who have written to me in connection with the procedures to be followed in order to ensure that the maximum possible utilisation of the EC structural funds can be secured for this country and the particular requirements of County Kildare in this context.
I know the Deputy referred to much of what is contained in the submission of Kildare County Council by the county manager — and I will not run through it — in relation to industrial promotion, roads, water sewerage, bog peatland development and so on. Most of those items are covered in relation to activity under the structural funds. When we refer to the structural funds, we are talking about the Regional Fund, the Social Fund and the FEOGA guidance fund.
The European Council, as it is now known, on 11-12 February 1988 reached agreement on a number of major issues relating to reform of the structural funds, including: (1) resources from the Regional Fund, the Social Fund and FEOGA guidance going to the less developed regions will be doubled by 1992, in comparison with 1987 and within this a special effort will be made for the least prospeorus regions, which include Ireland; and (2) For the less developed regions, including Ireland, the percentage rate of assistance from the funds will be subject to a maximum of 75 per cent of total cost — it is 50 per cent to 55 per cent at present — and, as a general rule, a minimum of 50 per cent of public expenditure. The minimum will not apply to income generating investments.
Work is continuing at Community level on the implementing measures, including the share-out of the increased resources between the funds and between member states. The actual amount which we will receive will depend on the socio-economic criteria established by the Commission for sharing out part of the funds and the quality of the programmes which we submit for assistance.
A major implication of the new system is that a national development plan must be drawn up for Ireland in respect of the expenditure areas covered by the structural funds. This plan will set out the priorities on which Ireland will concentrate in the period to 1992 and the level of expenditure envisaged. On the basis of this plan, the Community will indicate the amount of support which it is willing to provide to Ireland over the period. Subsequent to the national plan, a series of operational programmes will have to be developed spelling out in more detail how we will allocate the expenditure. These are likely to be a mix of national programmes which will include roads and geographically based programmes.
The Government are considering what special administrative arrangements may be needed to meet these new Community requirements. As the Deputy and the House are aware, the Taoiseach has already indicated that there will be close consultation with the social partners under the Programme for National Recovery. Work is already going ahead in relation to preparing programmes. A steering committee for a programme for the Dublin area has already been established, including representation from the local authorities and the private sector. It is intended that the preparation of operational programmes for the greater Cork area and the west will commence shortly. It is envisaged — and I am sure this is what the Deputy is really concerned about — that the programme approach will be extended as soon as possible throughout the country as a whole, including County Kildare and the adjoining counties.
I am aware that some people fear we may not be moving fast enough in drawing up our plan and programmes and that we may lose out at Community level. I assure the House that there is no danger of this. The new system is still at the drawing board stage in Brussels. A series of detailed regulations have to be put in place, which are not expected to be finalised until the end of this year. We propose to go ahead with our preparations without waiting for all the details to be fully clarified and to be ready to submit our plan as soon as possible after the new system comes into operation.
I should mention that the additional resources available to Ireland will build up over the period to 1992. While we expect a substantial increase by 1992, the immediate impact in the early years, while all the mechanisms are put in place, will be more modest.
I again wish to thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, and Deputy Durkan for the opportunity of giving the up to date position in relation to this fundamental and important issue which affects the whole country.
The Dáil adjourned at 10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 28 April 1988.