I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take this Adjournment matter. I am disappointed the Ceann Comhairle is not in the Chair because he is the only one who would remember when the first approach was made to the Department of the Environment and Local Government for funding for the scheme.
I will outline briefly the history of the scheme. As far back as 1965 the consulting engineers prepared a preliminary report for a regional water supply to serve Goresbridge, Paulstown and Kellymount. It sat for a number of years. During that period I became a Member and made representations to many different Ministers for the Environment and Local Government. On 11 February 1982 an updated report was submitted to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. It sat again until 28 October 1986 when contract documents were submitted to the Department for approval at an estimated cost of £1,394,000. The scheme was again put on the back burner. On 26 March 1997 the Department of the Environment and Local Government approved funding to carry out source protection of the scheme which was requested on 28 May 1993. This letter also requested Kilkenny County Council to submit updated contract documents for the main scheme which had been submitted on 28 October 1986. In February 2001 the latest revision of contract documents was submitted to the Department of the Environment and Local Government. Those facts speak for themselves. For whatever reason, this scheme has been left on the back burner for so long that I despair of it ever getting approval. This large rural area encompasses a small number of villages and towns and the people there have experienced serious water supply shortages over a long number of years. By any yardstick, I am sure the Minister of State would agree they are very patient to have waited so long for a scheme that was originally mooted in 1965. As a good deal of money was available over a period of years, it is difficult to understand that schemes such as this were not approved and funded by the Department of the Environment and Local Government.
We encourage people to move to live in rural Ireland. It is a case of Dublin versus the rest. In a county such as Kilkenny, we encourage people to move to the towns and particularly to the capital, Kilkenny city, and there it is a case of Kilkenny versus the rest. Kilkenny is bursting at the seams. The cost of houses has gone sky high and building land is not available. There is plenty of good building land available for people who want to live in a rural area, but the planning process prevents them from doing so as there is no funding available to provide the necessary infrastructure. That relates to several schemes, not just this one. I raised on several occasions in the House the lack of infrastructure such as sewerage facilities and I raised on the Adjournment the need to increase grants for group sewerage schemes, but I seem to be making very little progress.
There is not much more I can say because the scheme's history speaks for itself. It is time officials in the Department realised there are places called Gowran, Paulstown, Goresbridge and Kellymount and made arrangements to provide the necessary funding to Kilkenny County Council to allow this scheme to proceed after 37 years. That is a reasonable request and one to which I ask the Minister of State to respond.