I welcome the Minister to the House. She is conscientious enough to bring the message I will give her to the Minister for the Environment. I do not often raise local authority matters in the House even though I have been a Member for some time. I ask the Minister to take this Adjournment Matter seriously.
The Ballybofey/Stranorlar sewerage problem has been in existence for 11 years. The population of the area totals almost 3,000 and we have no sewerage system. We had a small box along the River Finn which was washed away in a flood and the raw sewage is now going into the river, a tributary of the River Foyle. I have with me a submission to the EU for funding to develop the River Foyle.
Some weeks ago, the Minister for the Environment made available £2 million for sewage disposal works for Ballybofey/Stranorlar and Muff. This may appear to be a generous contribution and we welcome the initiative. However, it was offered after a long time — 11 years. This is not a political statement; I am not attaching blame to the Minister. I have made similar representations to several Ministers and Governments, so it is not a new situation.
However, what is new is that the planned development of the Foyle Estuary involves the two Governments. In addition, the Foyle Fishery Commission has a substantial development plan for the development of the River Foyle. It is conscious of the fact that there are at least two raw, untreated sewage outlets, one at Ballybofey and the other at Muff and at a number of other small towns, such as Killygordon, Castlefinn and Lifford, which have no means of sewage disposal other than to allow the untreated sewage enter the river.
We feel the Minister has not done enough. After waiting 11 years and after an other Minister was prepared to give £4 million to complete the sewerage provision in Ballybofey/Stranorlar, we believe the present Minister has not done enough, especially when the £2 million he provided is INTERREG funding. The reason INTERREG funding was provided is that this is untreated sewage going into a tributary of the River Foyle where there is an application for EU funding.
That situation cannot be allowed to exist. There is nothing political in this. I am obliged to bring this matter before the House and I must bring a message back. What is the current situation? How many more years do we have wait? Are we going to be fobbed off with a promise that we will be included in provisions down the road at another time?
The current situation in the Ballybofey/Stranorlar area is that we have a major development plan for the twin towns. A limited company, formed by 12 energetic business people, is collecting £5,000 per month. There is no other small community doing that. It is their contribution to an environment plan. Every Minister I ever knew said they would respond when there is a contribution from the local people, and that is as it should be. I appeal to the Minister to consult with the Minister for the Environment to try to persuade him of the need to provide sufficient funding, not only for the treatment works but to provide a sewerage system.
The environmental plan is now at a standstill. The International Fund for Ireland has given some funding toward the environmental plan in the Ballybofey/Stranorlar area. They ask whether the streets of the town and the backstreets will be ripped up to provide a sewerage system. The Minister for the Environment should make a statement supporting the Ballybofey/Stranorlar development plan and a new sewerage system for the town that has waited so many years for it.
In this day and age we have stone drains carrying sewage in a progressive town in the centre of Donegal. The town is close to the Border and has suffered quite seriously from the deprivation that has take place over the last 25 years. The people themselves are doing something about the problem. The local authority is prepared to help. It has provided a environmental plan that is acceptable and encouraging to the business people. It would be unfair, and less than the expected response, if we are told we got £2 million, which is INTERREG funding, and we will get nothing from the Government.
I am saying nothing more here than what I said at the local authority meeting in Donegal as my colleague, Senator Maloney, knows. This is not an outburst. I have assessed the situation. Our sanitary services engineers dragged their feet. They were part of the problem for 11 years. A person has to be vicious, angry or frustrated when he calls for somebody to be sacked in a local authority if he is within a few years of retirement. I have been at that point because the people of Ballybofey/ Stranorlar cannot accept the situation prevailing there any longer. I implore the Minister of State to take this issue seriously. I hope the Minister for the Environment's response will be positive. If it only states that the Minister will endeavour to include Ballybofey/ Stranorlar in future developments, that will not be sufficient. I am sorry, but for the reasons I have given, it will not be acceptable in the prevailing situation. First, the development plan for the River Foyle, which is jointly managed by the two States, North and South, through the Foyle Fisheries Commission, has a problem in that the EU will not continue to fund their application if there is not a positive response here. Second, the Minister and the Government must recognise people who partly fund their own projects. There are not many situations like this in the country. Other people look for handouts. They want somebody else to come along to solve their problems. I ask the Minister for a positive response.
