I thank the Cathaoirleach for his very sincere endurance. I want to thank the Minister also. I welcome her to the Seanad and I wish her well in her new post. I am not saying that as a bribe. I am saying it as a fact.
I have before the House this evening a motion on the Adjournment on a very important matter for the community of Letterfrack. It is a motion concerning a problem that has arisen in our wonderful forest park which is under the jurisdiction of the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works.
It is a recent problem. I would like to give an outline of the situation first. A water tower exists on the property which is the forest park, and which prior to this was the borstal for bold children at one stage but which was given at that time by the Christian Brothers as a base for the water tower for the supply of the group water scheme to Letterfrack. It worked quite well and was very successful for many years. Due to the change in circumstances in that area in recent times, where many homes have been built, there is now a demand for approximately 100 houses extra on that group water scheme. It concerns the community of Letterfrack, Creggans and Dabhras Mór.
When they discovered that the pressure on the taps from that source was not good enough, it was suggested that they should increase the size of the tower. This was a costly proposition. After having many meetings about it and after having consultation with the county council on this matter they agreed that this was the best way to do it. They formally made an application to the Office of Public Works for permission to erect this tower. They thought they would have no problem whatsoever, but there was an objection concerning what the people of the community, who are a respectable community, found rather abnoxious to them. The Office of Public Works, because they would be interfering with a rare heather at the point adjacent to this tower, refused permission to use the site to bring water to serve those three communities.
It is all right for me to say it here, people might take it as a joke but I can tell Senators that the thousands of acres that are in that forest park are absolutely full of the same rare heather. It is not that rare in that part of the world, because there is very little else around but heather. They find it objectionable that they would be expected, at this juncture, to change the site of the proposed water tower because the cost of making the change would be excessive.
Loch an Oileán is the source for the regional group water scheme serving the Clifden area and west Connemara. It was suggested that they should bring the water from that Loch an Oileán source to Baunogues, which is three miles away, then take the water from the tower in Baunogues through the rocks of Connemara to bring it three miles to Letterfrack. I am making a very simple suggestion. I ask the Minister to reconsider this on the grounds of economics and on the grounds that I would not like the Office of Public Works to be held up to ridicule by suggesting that this little portion of ground on the diamond at the back of the centre alone has a rare heather. It is of great concern to the community at large in Letterfrack and about it that this nonsense should be brought to a halt. We must take into account that we are talking about a community of people, many of whom have no job, many families whose parents have no jobs and who are totally dependent on a tourist season and social welfare benefits and who find it hard to get the money involved to change the source of the water supply from the diamond to the position known as Baunogues three miles away. It is a very reasonable request to ask the Minister to review the situation, because no community in this country, particularly in that part of Connemara, have responded more to any project than that community of Letterfrack have responded to the opening of the national park.
There is a two way operation in all of this. The community have to respond to the demands from the tourist point of view. They have to give facilities, which they do willingly, from extra fine hotels down to bed and breakfast and camping sites. They have responded magnificently. Many people have opened up nice small businesses to add to their yearly financial reward by selling different types of crafts. This assists the community generally and runs parallel with the idea of a national park.
There may be an argument in the Office of Public Works that a tremendous amount of excavation would take place if this new tower were allowed on this diamond site. A few years ago the group water scheme involved taking out an old pipeline and putting in a new one. We are talking now about increasing the capacity of the tower. There is a right to the existing tower. That right can always be maintained. I do not see why the Minister could not reverse the Office of Public Works' decision, to allow a new tower to be built adjacent to the old site.
There can be a clause put into the contract that protection of the diamond be maintained. I would agree and the community would agree that the diamond should be protected, but surely a community living in co-habitation with the Office of Public Works in such a fine national asset should have a bit more cooperation on this matter.
The Department of the Environment might say that a regional scheme is the answer but we must remember that we are talking about a community who have very little other than tourist business in the summer months. If this summer is like last summer, we know how small that business will be. We are talking about a community who have not got the financial resources to pay the cost nowadays of blasting through rock, of laying down a whole new pipeline, plus a new tower when the great part of this scheme as regards the pipeline is completed. I would like to point out that the new Minister of State should, as a gesture towards the community, who play a role with the national park, allow this project to go ahead. That is a reasonable request.
The people of Connemara have, in general from a planning point of view over the years, suffered a great deal — I am talking about people who live in Connemara — from conservationists and An Taisce in particular. Galway County Council have tried to foster a certain amount of local interest that should come, not before conservation but as part of it. Yet we find that there is a lobby who do not live in this part of the world, but who have the rights under the Act to make appeals to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission for individuals who are born, bred, and trying to eke out a living in Connemara.
The community of Letterfrack and indeed the communities around the area take exception to the Office of Public Works giving the excuse that this little portion of ground contains all of that particular type of rare heather. This heather is to be found throughout the 10,000 acres of that national park. The community know that this is not a genuine excuse. I would not like to hear or read that the Office of Public Works would not play their part to help the community.
I want to thank the Minister for giving the property for the sculptors' week in September for a symposium. Sculptors from all over the island, and indeed from all over the Continent of Europe are displaying their art during this year. This was a wonderful achievement by the Arts Committee of the Galway County Council. They start there next weekend. The gesture towards that type of development in Connemara would be added to by at least the Office of Public Works providing for the community who live there this absolute necessity of running water in abundance.
I plead with the Minister that, no matter what the officials of the Office of Public Works may put in her portfolio this evening, the humane aspect and cooperative aspect must be taken into account. I do not know if she has had the privilege of visiting that national park yet, but I am sure she will be as impressed as her predecessors have been. I would not like her to come to Letterfrack and feel that the community would hold this little project against her or the officials of the Office of Public Works. I plead with her to allow the communities of Letterfrack, Creggans and Dabhras Mór to go ahead with this simple project. I thank the Minister for coming here this evening.