In January 2001 my Department approved Kildare County Council's application for funding under the serviced land initiative in respect of a proposed sewerage scheme at Rathangan. In October 2001 the council requested my Department to consider the proposal for funding as a major capital project under the water services investment programme.
The scheme had been included, as a 2005 objective, in the list of water and sewerage schemes submitted by Kildare County Council in October 1999 in response to my Department's request to local authorities to undertake fresh assessments of the needs for capital works in their areas and to prioritise their proposals on the basis of the assessments. The priority lists were taken into account in the framing of subsequent phases of the water services investment programme. Because of the level of competing demand, and the need to prioritise individual proposals on a national basis, it has not been possible to include the scheme in the programme.
In 2003, local authorities were asked by my Department to provide updated assessments of their current water services infrastructural requirements. The Rathangan sewerage scheme has been placed fourth on the resulting priority list produced by Kildare County Council. The priority list will be taken into account in the selection of new schemes for approval in the next phase of the water services investment programme in due course.