asked the Minister for Finance (a) if he will state how many petitions have been forwarded by the County Councils of Longford and Westmeath under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1925; (b) how many have been approved, and (c) how soon is it proposed to start work where schemes have been approved of.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - LONGFORD AND WESTMEATH DRAINAGE SCHEMES.
Mr. BOURKE
(a) The Commissioners of Public Works have received petitions under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1925, in respect of thirteen proposals from each of the Longford and Westmeath County Councils.
(b) No scheme in either county has yet reached the stage of having been approved.
(c) Of the thirteen petitions received from County Longford, six have been investigated by the Commissioners' Engineers, and four of these have been rejected mainly on economic grounds.
The reports on the other two are under consideration. Two of the remaining cases will be inspected at an early date.
Nine of the thirteen petitions received from County Westmeath have been inspected by the Commissioners' Engineer, and two are on the list for early inspection. In the case of the Paddinstown proposal a detailed drainage scheme was prepared and submitted to the occupiers of land concerned, but as a result of the public inquiry which was held in respect of the objections to the scheme, it was decided to prepare a modified scheme, and this is now being done. Two other schemes are being prepared for submission to the occupiers of land in the Riverstown and Rochfortbridge cases. The reports on four cases are under consideration, and in one case which has been only recently inspected, the Engineer's report is in preparation. In the remaining case inspected a petition is awaited from the Offaly County Council, before further action can be taken.