I wish to share my time with Deputy Kenneally.
Adjournment Debate. - Sewage Treatment Plants.
I am sure that is satisfactory, Agreed.
I thank you for selecting this subject and I thank the Minister for being present — Ministers of State are sent in too often to reply to these issues. The attributed statements of Jean Francois Verstrynger, director of the Cohesion Fund, in the Irish Independent last Thursday, 17 October were received in Mayo with deep shock and dismay. He stated that he is about to withdraw Cohesion Fund financing for two waste water sewerage schemes, in Waterford and Tramore. He stated that while the details have been agreed for years the location and other issues still have not been finalised. He went on to say: “it is only two plants out of a total of 40 plants but still...”. It appears Mr. Verstrynger is more concerned with budgets and the number of projects seeking Cohesion Funds than with the long-term environmental damage that will ensue if work on the Westport sewage plant is further delayed, which will most certainly be the case if Cohesion Funds are not available.
Last night Mayo County Council unanimously supported a motion calling on the Minister not to allow the withdrawal or suspension of Cohesion Funds for a scheme which would treat 750,000 gallons of raw sewage a day which flows into Clew Bay. The council awaits the Minister's decision on the CPO proceedings and public inquiry held more than five months ago. Last week the Minister informed me that he intended to make a decision soon. While he must act in a quasi-judicial role, the time is long past for a decision on the matter. The Minister's officials informed me that they were aware from informal discussions of the Cohesion Fund Monitoring Committee that the Westport scheme was under threat, and the sole reason relates to the delays.
On behalf of Mayo County Council and the people affected, I ask the Minister to make a decision on the inspector's report relating to the CPO inquiry and not to allow any scheme to be deselected by non-elected, non-resident Eurocrats. Mayo County Council has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in processing this scheme to date. An EU directive states that by the year 2001 all bathing waters must be free of untreated discharges.
Westport and Westport House demesne depend on a vibrant tourism industry, on which millions of pounds are spent. As a result of planning permission granted in the area, flows of untreated waste into Clew Bay will be substantially increased. Recognising the importance of the tourism and pharmaceutical industries — nearly 800 persons are employed in Allergan in Westport — I am satisfied that the location for the sewage treatment plant, chosen after prolonged investigation by experts employed by Mayo County Council, is the optimum site. Rather than have an adverse effect on Westport House demesne, it will enhance its stature because the sewage plant would be located at a vicinity where at present untreated sewage is discharged.
The hoi polloi of urban sophistication who signed a petition objecting to the proposed site can feel justly proud that Clew Bay, a premier tourist resort in Connacht, is threatened with the loss of £14 million in European funding, money which could be used to upgrade our infrastructure. While there is little or no Labour mandate in Mayo, there is a substantial Fine Gael mandate and I ask the Minister to exercise the authority vested in him and his Department and use whatever mechanisms are at his disposal to reverse the threat of immediate withdrawal of funds. I make that request in the full knowledge that there are more applications for Cohesion Funds than there are funds available. It will be most interesting to see what will happen in this case. I speculate on whether Westport's difficulties will become another constituency's opportunity to have its scheme moved up the priority ladder, thereby obtaining funding.
I hope the Minister, when replying, will not read a speech prepared several hours before I made my contribution. He should use his authority, which I respect, and his spontaneity in answering my question.
I thank my colleague, Deputy Hughes, for giving me an opportunity to put on record my concerns about the proposed sewage treatment plant in Tramore. The blame for this problem lies fairly and squarely with Waterford Country Council and the Department of the Environment, which put forward a plan with which the Department of the Marine was not happy. It was evident that a foreshore licence would not be granted in the area specified by Waterford County Council.
I raised this matter on the Adjournment as far back as 3 March 1993 and a decision is still awaited on the matter. In the past two months or so the Department of the Marine turned down the foreshore application, a decision which should have been foreseen three and a half years ago. It would have been prudent at that stage to examine the alternative, to extend the present outfall pipe into the bay. I ask the Minister to ensure this money is not lost.
I thank the Deputies opposite for raising this question and giving me the opportunity to explain the current position in regard to these important schemes and the recently reported comments to which the Deputies have referred. I am greatly impressed by the expectation of Deputy Hughes that hours of preparation are involved in these matters. I assure him that the frenetic pace of action in Departments does not allow such a level of preparation. I wish to give the Deputies a frank and clear answer to the questions they posed.
Applications for Cohesion Fund assistance for stage one of the Westport and Tramore waste water schemes were submitted to the European Commission in June 1993. Approval for these applications, which covered initial planning of the schemes, was given by the Commission in March 1994. However, a number of unavoidable delays, well known to the Deputies opposite, have since been encountered in completing planning. In the case of the Tramore scheme the application for a foreshore licence for the outfall was refused by the Minister for the Marine after a lengthy examination. I did not submit the application, it was submitted by Waterford County Council, with which I presume Deputy Kenneally has some influence.
Not enough.
The council is now considering alternative outfall arrangements and I have approved its proposals to undertake site investigations which will facilitate this.
The planning phase of the Westport scheme included the acquisition of sites for the treatment plant and pumping stations. Mayo County Council was unable to acquire the site for the treatment works by agreement and decided to proceed by way of compulsory purchase order. A local public inquiry has been held into the objections made to me in regard to the CPO and I will give a decision on the matter as soon as possible. There are legal procedures involved and the objectors have a right to have their voice heard and their views properly considered.
Because of the delays in finalising the planning of the two schemes, the European Commission has indicated that the current approvals, which relate to the planning phases only, should be closed off. This process does not affect the submission of applications for Cohesion Fund assistance for the construction of the schemes. A further Cohesion Fund application to cover all further stages of the Tramore scheme has been submitted to the Commission and work is under way on identifying suitable alternative outfall arrangements. The completion of planning, including the preparation of a new environmental impact statement and the necessary foreshore licence application, will take some time to finalise, but I am satisfied these matters are being advanced as quickly as possible. In the case of Westport it is proposed to submit a further application for Cohesion Fund assistance when the outstanding planning matters, including the acquisition of a suitable site, have been completed.
The need for both schemes is fully accepted and I appreciate the Deputies' concerns regarding the possibility of losing EU funding. In the final analysis, it will be a matter for the Commission to allocate funding between the eligible projects submitted by the Government, and there will be sufficient eligible projects to draw down every available pound. Every step is being taken by my Department, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned, to have the outstanding planning issues resolved as quickly as possible with a view to securing Cohesion Funds for these two important schemes. The Commission is being fully informed of progress.