Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 14 Feb 2008

Vol. 188 No. 12

Water and Sewerage Schemes.

Senator Paudie Coffey

I refer to the need for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to clarify the progress on the seven village sewerage scheme application submitted by Waterford County Council and the reasons the foreshore licences that are required have not yet been approved. There is a great deal of frustration and confusion surrounding this village sewerage scheme in County Waterford on which seven towns and villages are depending for their development and future expansion. The submission was made to the Department by Waterford County Council in 2003. Foreshore licences are required for some of the villages involved. The Department encouraged Waterford County Council to include all seven villages in the one application. While this might have been seen as more efficient at the outset, it has halted progress in some of the towns that did not require a foreshore licence and this is the nub of the issue.

I do not know and I would like clarification as to which Department is responsible for issuing foreshore licences. The application was made almost three years ago for the licences to allow the sewerage schemes to proceed. Is intolerably long. We are always talking about protecting the environment and installing the necessary infrastructure to allow our towns and villages to grow. Here are seven villages in a county stymied by excessive bureaucracy, delays and foot-dragging within the Departments. I ask that this should not be repeated in any other local authority areas or towns around the country. It causes enormous frustration for the local authority, councillors and, most importantly, communities hampered by the lack of development.

For the record, the seven villages involved are Cappoquin, Stradbally, Ardmore, Ballyduff-Kilmeaden, Dunmore East, Tallow and Kilmacthomas. Tallow and Kilmacthomas have been approved to go to tender for their schemes to be installed, as has Ballyduff-Kilmeaden, I am informed. Unfortunately, they now await Cappoquin, Stradbally and Ardmore which await their foreshore licences. I hope we get clarification today as to the timeframe in which we can expect the licences to be issued to allow these schemes to progress. I hope the Minister of State will take my views on board as well as those of the local authority that to group schemes together in this manner is not necessarily a good idea because it has delayed unnecessarily some of the towns that were ready to proceed. I thank the Minister of State for attending and look forward to his response.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher)

I thank Senator Coffey for raising the matter and giving me the opportunity to clarify, on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the position on this important scheme. The Waterford grouped towns and villages sewerage scheme has been approved for funding by the Minister under his Department's water services investment programme 2007-09. The estimated cost of the scheme is more than €43 million. The current water services programme provides for overall investment of €182 million in new water and sewerage infrastructure in County Waterford over the next few years. A copy of the programme is available in the Oireachtas Library.

The towns and villages sewerage scheme entails the construction of new or upgraded waste water treatment and collection systems in Ardmore, Ballyduff-Kilmeaden, Cappoquin, Dunmore East, Kilmacthomas, Stradbally and Tallow. Waterford County Council is advancing the scheme on the basis of separate contracts for the collection systems and waste water treatment plants, with the latter being grouped under a single contract. The objective of grouping the treatment plants is to create economies of scale. This secures greater interest from suitable contractors, better quality proposals and keenest prices.

When finished, this major scheme will cater for new residential and commercial development in each of the towns and villages, but especially Ardmore, Cappoquin and Dunmore East where development has been constrained because of inadequate waste water infrastructure. The scheme will also improve significantly environmental standards in local river systems and coastal waters which are an important amenity for the tourism sector. The agreed programme for Government is committed to ensuring waste water discharges into rivers, lakes and streams meet the highest international standards and this scheme is a clear reflection of that objective.

As the Senator is particularly interested in the position on the foreshore licences for the scheme, I will deal with this matter first. The Senator is probably aware that Waterford County Council has applied to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for a total of nine foreshore licences for works associated with the Ardmore, Ballyduff-Kilmeaden, Cappoquin and Dunmore East waste water treatment plants. I understand the licences have yet to be granted but that the council is actively pursuing matters with that Department. I have arranged for the Senator's concerns in this regard to be brought to the attention of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and that Department has undertaken to write to him setting out the position.

In so far as the scheme is concerned, I am pleased to be able to say that Waterford County Council is making good progress. Work on upgrading the waste water collection system in Tallow is well under way. The council signed the contract to upgrade the Kilmacthomas collection system in January. It expects to invite tenders shortly for the Cappoquin collection system and envisages seeking tenders for the remaining four collection systems on a phased basis up to June 2008. Under this timetable, construction work on all collection systems should have begun by January 2009. In accordance with devolved procedures introduced by the Department of the Environment to speed up the delivery of water services projects, departmental approval of the tenders for the collection systems will not be required provided Waterford County Council stays within budget.

The council also has completed the planning of the waste water treatment plants for each of the locations and has begun the pre-qualification process to select prospective tenderers. The council is finalising the contract documents for the new plants and will submit them to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for approval as soon as possible. The council expects to be in a position to seek tenders for the treatment plants, under a single contract, by September 2008. The treatment plant contract will be structured in such a way that the construction of the plants will sequenced as far as possible to dovetail with the completion of the collection systems.

I assure the Senator that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is well aware of the need to improve the waste water services in these towns and villages and he and his Department will continue to co-operate in every way possible with Waterford County Council to have them completed with the minimum of delay.

Senator Paudie Coffey

I thank the Minister of State for outlining where we are in terms of progress. Lessons should be learned from this application and I hope the Minister and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will take on board the view that where schemes are to be grouped, the question whether foreshore licences for individual applicants are required should be examined. If there is to be such a requirement, that inevitably will delay other applications which may not need them. I would be obliged if the Minister were to take that on board for the faster delivery of schemes in the future. In this case, it has taken five to ten years for delivery, from start to finish, which is unacceptable in this day and age. The Department and its officials should be doing everything possible to ensure schemes are advanced as quickly as possible.

Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher

I certainly will pass on the Senator's views to the Department of Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which has responsibility for foreshore licences.

Fire Stations.

Senator John Paul Phelan

I welcome the Minister of State. I raise the question of the inadequate facilities available at the fire station in Graiguenamanagh, County Kilkenny. The station is a workplace for 12 firemen. It houses two fire tenders and covers an area that extends across south-east Kilkenny and south Carlow, which is a very large catchment area, much of it sparsely populated. The problem from a service provision viewpoint is that the facility is hopelessly inadequate in this day and age. The original building was constructed in the 1940s and an extension was built about 30 years ago, which houses the second tender. The fire service in Graiguenamanagh owns a third vehicle, an off-road vehicle, which is parked immediately adjacent to the fire station. There is no land surrounding the station which is located on the street in Graiguenamanagh.

The difficulty with the existing station is that there are no facilities for training. While there are pumping facilities available on the Barrow in Graiguenamanagh for the firemen to do some of their training routines, no such facilities are available for much of the other work they must do such as working with ladders or, in particular, cutting up cars. A large part of fire service work nowadays is concerned with the aftermath of car accidents. Unfortunately, for training purposes firemen in Graiguenamanagh have to go to Kilkenny one night per week. That is a problem in that the area is left uncovered from a fire service point of view. I acknowledge that significant work has been done and money has been invested in upgrading a number of fire stations in the Carlow and Kilkenny area during the course of the last few years. Graiguenamanagh is one of the last outstanding fire stations.

Tomorrow afternoon the new Graiguenamanagh relief road will be opened and will be a significant improvement in terms of traffic movement in and around the town of Graiguenamanagh. Given that the county council is in possession of a large parcel of eight to ten acres of land on the new road, perhaps an acre of ground could be provided in conjunction with the Department for the provision of a much needed new fire station to be operated successfully out of Graiguenamanagh to cover the south Carlow and south east Kilkenny areas.

Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher

I thank Senator Phelan for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to respond on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, who has responsibility for the fire services. I acknowledge the Senator's appreciation of the significant contribution the fire services have made and continue to make each day in safeguarding our communities. I am familiar with the fire services as I had responsibility in that area for a number of years in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I am aware of the progress that has been made in the Senator's county. I am pleased to place on record the Government's commitment to the fire services in terms of modernisation and financial support.

The fire services capital programme, administered by the Department, supports local fire authorities in the development and maintenance of a quality fire-fighting and rescue service. The programme provides funding for the construction and upgrading of fire stations, the procurement of fire appliances and specialised equipment. There have been significant improvements affecting all areas of the fire service in recent years — increased investment in infrastructure and equipment, more staff, better training, and the provision of improved communications infrastructure. Last year, for example, saw the greatest annual investment to date, over €24 million, under the fire service capital programme.

Graiguenamanagh fire station was built in 1950. It is a two bay station and is located on the High Street in the town. There are six other fire stations located in County Kilkenny. They are located in Kilkenny city, Castlecomer, Freshford, Thomastown, Callan and Urlingford.

A new fire station at Callan was completed in 2003 at a cost of €590,000. In addition, a replacement fire station at Freshford was completed recently at a cost of in excess of €1 million. I understand that tenders have recently been received by the fire authority in regard to the construction of a replacement fire station at Castlecomer. This project was approved by the Department under the 2005 capital programme.

At present there are two applications for funding from Kilkenny County Council for consideration under the programme. An application for funding has been made for a replacement two bay station in Graiguenamanagh and a further application has been made for the construction of a replacement station at Urlingford.

In general, applications for funding under the programme for the building or refurbishment of fire stations are considered on a case by case basis having regard to the fire authority's priorities, the existing facilities, the level of activity, the proximity of other fire stations, and the competing demands of other fire authorities for the available funding.

In regard to the issue raised, I understand that the Department has recently written to Kilkenny County Council requesting the fire authority to rank, in order of priority, applications to construct replacement stations at Graiguenamanagh and Urlingford. The Department has also requested that the fire authority prepare and submit a capital appraisal in respect of both projects in line with the Department of Finance's guidelines for the appraisal and management of capital expenditure proposals in the public sector. Upon receipt of the additional documentation sought by the Department and an indication of the council's priorities, construction projects submitted by Kilkenny County Council will be considered in the context of future capital programmes.

I hope this clarifies the issue for the Senator. I have no doubt he will use his influence to ensure his local authority responds to the Department's queries at an early date.

Senator John Paul Phelan

I thank the Minister of State.