Vol. 520 No. 4
156 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government when a regional water scheme will be extended from Srah to Westport to allow for schemes to Murrisk and Louisburgh, County Mayo; the current position on this scheme; and when it will be sanctioned. [15994/00]
A brief for a major extension of the Lough Mask regional water supply scheme to serve Westport, Newport, Mulranny, Murrisk and Louisburg, at an estimated cost of almost £21 million, was received in my Department in April, 1998. Mayo County Council was subsequently requested to review the proposals in light of the approval of water supply augmentation schemes for Newport and Mulranny under the serviced land initiative. Following this review, the council now intends to advance the proposal on a phased basis and has submitted a revised brief for phase I involving an extension from Shrah to Westport at an estimated cost of £7 million. This phase is fifth on the list of water supply schemes adopted by the council in response to my Department's request to local authorities to undertake fresh assessments of the needs for capital works in their areas and to prioritise their proposals on the basis of the assessments. The extension to Louisburgh-Newport-Mulranny (which would include Murrisk, has been included in the list as a requirement for the post 2006 period. The priority lists will be taken into account in the framing of water services investment programmes for this and future years under the National Development Plan 2000-06.
