asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the steps which have been or will be taken in the immediate future by the Electricity Supply Board to make provision for a rural electrification scheme for Ballydesmond (Cork-Kerry border) and its neighbourhood.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rural Electrification.
I would refer the Deputy to the reply given to him on the 26th October, 1950, to a question on this subject.
The Electricity Supply Board inform me that an official canvass of the Ballydesmond area will be undertaken on the completion of the canvass of other areas from which memorials had been submitted on earlier dates. I understand that adverse weather conditions have considerably delayed the rate of canvass and that it is unlikely it will be possible to proceed with the canvassing of Ballydesmond before July of this year.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that the Electricity Supply Board authorities carried out a survey of the Milltown parish area recently and whether, in view of the urgent necessity for a rural electrification scheme for that area, he will make representations to the board to have the work expedited.
I am informed by the Electricity Supply Board that the proposal for the development of the Milltown area under the rural electrification scheme has been considered on a number of occasions, but the board have not found it possible to select the area for development because the fixed charge revenue in relation to the estimated capital cost is low as compared with other areas in the vicinity.
I am also informed by the board that a supplementary survey of an additional portion of the parish lying between Milltown and Killorglin is at present proceeding and the entire area will be reviewed again by the board in the late summer of this year.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will say when it is proposed to carry out electrification in the Mitchelstown, Ballyhooly and Shanballymore districts.
I am informed by the Electricity Supply Board that each of the three districts mentioned by the Deputy has been canvassed under the rural electrification scheme, but the results obtained were not sufficiently satisfactory to justify the extension of the scheme to any of the districts. The board propose to consider each case again during the course of the present year.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he will now state when the Electricity Supply Board intends to proceed with their electrification scheme for the parish of Lixnaw, County Kerry.
I would refer the Deputy to the reply given in Dáil Éireann on the 15th November, 1950, to a similar question asked by him. As indicated in that reply, the question of the inclusion of the Lixnaw area in the rural electrification scheme was again considered by the Electricity Supply Board before the end of 1950 and the board have informed me that they did not find any sufficient change in the position to justify the selection of the area. The matter will again be considered by the board in a few months' time.