Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 Nov 2001

Vol. 543 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Water and Sewerage Schemes.

Mr. McGrath:

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing Deputy Penrose and myself to raise this important issue. Moate, County Westmeath, is a town of about 2,000 people located in the south of the county. It is on the main road between Dublin and Galway and is situated about halfway between the two cities.

The community of Moate is extremely active and has a tremendous community spirit. It has worked to produce Tuar Ard, a fantastic arts centre in the town, and Dún na Shí, a thriving heritage centre. It has many sporting clubs, a fine school and a new nursing home. Due to its location on this main national route, it is a hub of commercial activity.

Each summer the town suffers a major shortage of water. The water supply has been intermittent, to put it mildly, in recent years and is a major embarrassment. It affects not only the commercial activity of Moate but also its prospects of future housing and industrial development and its attraction for people to locate there. I have previously described the water supply in Moate as akin to a Third World water supply. Many times during the summer it is not available during the day, only coming on for short periods at night. This is unacceptable. Something must be done. For a number of years various options were explored to find a new source and, at last, consultants have identified a way of solving the problem.

A consultants' report was submitted to Westmeath County Council. It received approval there and was forwarded to the Department. The report states that a connection can be made from a good water supply in Ballymore and that water can be piped from there to Moate. That would augment the supply in Moate. The report was sent to the Department in April this year. It received technical approval within the Department but it has been sitting on the Minister's desk awaiting approval since then. It is unacceptable that it should lie there for so long.

Why has this scheme not been approved? The long delay since April this year means that the possibility of having a quality water supply in Moate for next summer is probably in jeopardy. The people of Moate are not happy with this situation. They are a quiet, peace loving people but I wonder how long their patience will last. How long more will they tolerate this Minister sitting on his hands when, with the stroke of a pen, he can deliver a new water supply for the town? The Minister of State should tell the Minister for the Environment and Local Government that it is time to look after the people of south Westmeath. This scheme can be implemented. If he acts now, the water supply might be on stream for late next year.

Mr. Penrose:

I thank Deputy McGrath for sharing his time with me. What we are seeking tonight, as we have sought consistently in the past couple of years, is to advance the implementation of a permanent solution to the nightmare water supply problems that bedevil the large town of Moate, which is strategically located on the N6, the main Dublin to Galway road. It is also an important town for the surrounding hinterland, a vast geographical area surrounding the thriving town.

The town needs to end the uncertainty and unreliability of its water supply. It is a major drawback for consumers at all levels, be they householders, farmers or industrial consumers. Likewise the provision of a reliable supply is an important signal or assurance to people in the commercial sectors, such as entrepreneurs and small businesses, to locate their activities in the Moate area. This is important for the generation and attraction of employment, a most important consideration.

Obviously, the long-term water supply requirements of these areas should be evaluated and addressed under the south Westmeath regional water supply scheme. However, that is a long-term solution so we must ensure interim solutions are put in place and Deputy McGrath and I proposed a number of these on the last occasion this matter was discussed in the House. I understand that stage 1 of the scheme, estimated to cost £9 million, is included in the Department's services investment programme as a scheme to advance to planning but this stage only addresses the water supply requirements for Athlone and its immediate environs. It appears from replies to parliamentary questions that completion of stage 1 is a necessary precursor to enable the scheme to serve Moate and other areas to progress.

It is vital for the residents of the expanding town of Moate and its hinterland that the Department accelerates the process of putting in place a permanent solution to the serious problem which bedevils the town. It is a strategic town in economic, social, sporting and cultural terms. Let us stop procrastinating about consultants' reports, let the money be advanced and let the necessary water supply proceed.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace):

I thank Deputies McGrath and Penrose for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The provision of modern environmental infrastructure to support economic objectives has been a major focus of Government investment over the past four and a half years. Total planned spending on water services infrastructure over the period of the current national development plan amounts to almost £3 billion or 3.8 billion. This investment is aimed at supporting economic and social development, employment generation and the achievement of high environmental standards.

On the water supply side, the subject of this motion, the additional production capacity created during last year alone is equal to the average daily requirements of a population equivalent of 309,000 persons. This represents, in one year, 36% of the corresponding figure for the entire 1994 to 1999 period.

The water services investment programme 2000-2002 is the first phase of a rolling programme to give effect to planned NDP spending on water services up to 2006. Total investment in County Westmeath in the first phase amounts to over £52 million – 66 million – in respect of 14 schemes. Approximately two thirds of the funding, over £34 million – 43 million – is for four large schemes that will deal with water supplies to serve Mullingar and south Westmeath, including Athlone and Moate, and sewerage schemes for Mullingar and Athlone. While preparing the programme for Westmeath between 2000 and 2002, my Department took into account the list of water and sewerage schemes adopted as priorities by the council after it was asked to undertake a fresh assessment of the need for capital works in Westmeath and to prioritise its proposals on the basis of the assessments.

Mr. McGrath:

The consultant's report was not available then.

Mr. D. Wallace:

Westmeath County Council included the south Westmeath regional water supply scheme, which holds the long-term solution to Moate's water supply requirements, as part of its assessment of needs. The council has proposed that the scheme will have three stages. The first stage will upgrade the existing water supply to Athlone and its environs. The second stage, which must await completion of the first stage, involves the extension of the supply from Athlone to Moate and its environs, including the provision of a new reservoir at Knockdomney. The third stage will deal with the extension of public water mains to service the Tang and Glasson areas. The first stage has been included in the first phase of the water services investment programme and the subsequent stages cannot proceed until it has been implemented. I understand that Westmeath County Council has almost completed the revised preliminary report for the first stage, which it hopes to submit to the Department shortly. It will then be dealt with as speedily as possible.

Westmeath County Council has informed my Department of the difficulties being encountered with the Moate water supply. As an interim solution, the council has augmented the supply to Moate from a ground water source at Knockdomney. This was commissioned late last year under the small schemes programme which is funded by the Department. A consultant's report on a further possible interim source, which would involve harnessing spare capacity from Ballymore, was submitted to my Department by the council earlier this year. As this proposal, which is estimated to cost £2 million – 2.53 million – was not included in the list of priority schemes submitted by the council during the preparation of the current three-year water services investment programme, it has not been included in that programme. Further schemes will be added to the programme as it progresses up to the end of the national development plan and the Moate project will be carefully considered by the Minister in that context. I assure Deputies McGrath and Penrose that I will make the Minister aware of the case they have made in its favour this evening.

Mr. McGrath:

I thank the Minister of State.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 8 November 2001.