asked the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Energy the reason for the inordinate delays in ESB connections to householders in County Mayo in view of his statement of May 1978, and the plans if any to rectify this serious situation immediately.
Written Answers. - Mayo ESB Connections.
500.
As the Deputy will be aware, County Mayo, for administrative purposes, falls within the board's Galway and Sligo districts. Consequently, information relating to Mayo exclusively is not available. However, Galway district, which covers most of County Galway and part of County Mayo, has approximately 450 applications on hands which are in various stages of processing. The normal waiting period is approximately four months from date of application.
Sligo district, which covers Counties Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and parts of Counties Roscommon, Cavan and Mayo, has approximately 500 applications on hands also with an average waiting period of four months.
A waiting period of four months is not considered unreasonable by the board in that people are encouraged to apply for connection before house construction begins and applicants will generally have supply connected by the time the houses are ready for occupation.
In the Castlebar area there is, unfortunately, a waiting period of about 12 months due to the large volume of work on hands. Almost 200 houses were eligible for connection under the terms of the Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1976, and about 85 remain to be connected. While the board are committed to supplying these houses as soon as possible and had originally hoped to have connections completed this year, the completion date is now April next. The delays are primarily due to the fact that many applicants are situated in the most isolated areas of County Mayo and connection involves the erection of a substantial supply network over extremely difficult terrain. Particularly severe weather conditions last winter also adversely affected the connection schedule. However, the board advice me that they are gradually reducing the waiting period and it is expected to be in line with the rest of the country in the near future.