Vol. 526 No. 3
301 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his Department is in receipt of an application for funding from Castlewarren group water scheme, County Kilkenny; if not, if he will consider such an application to cover a shortfall of funds required for the scheme; and if so, the steps the scheme organisers should take with the local authority. [26683/00]
Under the devolved rural water programme, it is a matter for local authorities to finance approved projects out of the annual block capital grant allocated by my Department. Earlier this year a comprehensive range of measures was introduced to assist the group water scheme sector, including grants of up to 85% of the cost of developing new schemes, subject to a maximum cost limit of £6,000 per house, together with a 100% grant for essential water disinfection and treatment equipment. While Kilkenny County Council has requested a special grant for the Castlewarren scheme, no funds are available to assist groups outside of the normal grants structure.
In the case of group schemes with exceptionally high costs that cannot be accommodated within the grants structure, the local authority should review the design approach with a view to achieving economies or, alternatively, have elements such as the headworks or trunk mains developed by way of a small public scheme.
In the current year, Kilkenny County Council received a block grant allocation of £950,000 under the rural water programme, of which £450,000 has been drawn down to date.
