asked the Minister for Transport and Power at what date he expects that electricity supply service will be extended to the townlands of Inch, Sillertane, Pookeen and Milane in the Dunmanway district, County Cork.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - West Cork Electricity Supply.
5.
I am informed by the Electricity Supply Board that the townlands referred to are situated in the Board's Coolkellure Rural Area, which was originally developed under the Rural Electrification Scheme in the latter part of 1962. Recanvass under the planned post-development scheme is scheduled to commence early in 1967. All unsupplied householders in the area will be contacted during the recanvass.
Is the Minister able to indicate now when the townlands in question will be serviced because there are several more townlands in the West Cork area in connection with which representations for service are being made and the persons concerned are told that they must wait an indefinite period? The Minister will agree that that is a very unsatisfactory position.
If the Deputy will communicate with me, I will find out what the position is about any other areas. The position is that rural electrification is proceeding on a planned basis and over a period of five years and it would be very uneconomic to recanvass all the areas at once in terms of overhead costs and executive charges of one kind and another. The ESB is proceeding in the same steady way to redevelop the areas as it did when it first brought rural electrification to the community.
I understood that if there were a 100 per cent favourable response to the canvass, if, in other words, all the people in a district intended to avail of the service, they would get some preference.
As far as I am aware, there is great difficulty in altering the order of the schemes because of the fact that initial canvass was carried out and then it was decided, again with a view to economies, to provide connection area by area rather than to individuals and I doubt if the ESB could change any scheme it had in mind. However, if the Deputy knows of any areas where there are 100 per cent applications, I will see if the ESB will be willing to carry out the work and if it can be done in an economic way.
All right. We will leave it at that.