asked the Minister for the Environment if he will give details of the information outstanding from Dublin County Council to enable him to allocate the one-and-a-half million pounds requested by that body for the current year, for land purchase for the construction of a high speed limited access road on the Western Parkway/Southern Cross Motorway alignments between Tallaght Road and Harolds Grange, County Dublin, in accordance with the motion adopted by the county council on 9 May 1977 and 10 September 1979.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Land Purchase Proposal.
14.
As I indicated to the Deputy in reply to a question on 16 April I have allocated £400,000 in the current year to meet land acquisition costs and construction work on the section of the Western Parkway-Southern Cross route between Tallaght Road and Firhouse Road.
The question of allocating funds to the council for the acquisition of land necessary for the balance of the route referred to by the Deputy, from Firhouse Road to Harold's Grange, will be considered on receipt of an acceptable detailed design for the road, including plans, longitudinal and cross sections, bill of quantities and an estimate of cost together with details of land requirements and an indication that the council are in a position to proceed with the purchase of the necessary lands.
Is the Minister satisfied that he is getting sufficient information speedily enough from the county council in connection with this matter?
Yes. This is complex because land acquisition is involved in this and that is a very slow matter.
Is the Minister satisfied that the information he is getting is correct and that his Department are acting on it?
I am.
Would the Minister's brief enable him to indicate if his Department have clearly told Dublin County Council that before the Department can sanction the funds which are required the county council must provide a bill of quantities, longitudinal and cross sectional drawings, the cost estimate and the referencing of the lands involved in the route?
Yes.
Has that been communicated in writing to the county council?
Yes. The county council know about that.
Can the Minister give us the date on which the county council were told?
I have not got it here.
Can the Minister get the information and provide it for me and, indeed, for Deputy Andrews?
The position in regard to the development of the route is that a grant of £335,000 has been allocated for the section from the Naas Road to Greenhills Road alone. It is understood that a compulsory purchase order is being prepared by the county council for submission to the Minister in respect of the lands necessary for this stretch and grants totalling £973,000 have been allocated to the Greenhills Road-Tallaght Road section and construction work is virtually completed. Grants totalling £577,000 have been allocated towards land acquisition costs and construction work on the Tallaght Road-Firhouse Road section. I hope that is sufficient information.
It is considerable information. Let me clarify the information that I sought from the Minister. The Minister read out a list of the Department's requirements before they could sanction the funds available. The Minister indicated that the local authority were aware that this information was needed. Since the Minister does not have the precise date on which the local authorities were informed of that, perhaps, on returning to his office, the Minister could at some suitable date circulate to me, and indeed to Deputy Andrews, the date on which his Department informed Dublin County Council that the Department needed this list of information.
I will ask them about that.