Vol. 354 No. 1
asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware that residents at a place (details supplied) in County Galway are unable to collect local contributions of £2,100 for repair of roads under the local improvement scheme rules laid down by his Department; and if he will alter the rules and revert to the situation where landowners whose land valuation was under £5 did not have to pay a local contribution.
5.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware that residents at Killeaney, Kilronan, Aran Islands, County Galway, are unable to collect local contribution of £2,500 for repairs of roads under the local improvement scheme rules laid down by his Department; and if he will alter the rules and revert to the situation where landowners whose land valuation was under £5 did not have to pay a local contribution.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.
I am not so aware. The administration of the local improvements scheme is carried out by county councils and the scheme is confined to farm road projects eligible for EC aid under the western package. The relevant EC regulation stipulates that local landholders must contribute at least 10 per cent of the cost of eligible projects and this requirement is not negotiable at present.
The manner of sharing the 10 per cent minimum contribution is a matter for determination by the landholders benefiting from each particular project. All aspects of the EC western package fall to be reviewed next year.
Is the Minister aware that the only way in which rural dwellers could have a local road repaired was under the local improvement scheme and that where their land valuations were under £5 they did not have to make any cash contribution towards the cost? Now, since this EC contribution has been accepted and the 10 per cent minimum contribution requirement adhered to, this results, on numerous occasions, in local householders being unable to afford the local contribution. Therefore, they are not able to benefit from the local improvement scheme. Is the Minister aware of that?
As I have informed the Deputy, EC regulation 18/20/80 for the western package stipulates that there must be a 10 per cent minimum contribution in the case of eligible farm road projects. This is part of the regulations that were drawn up in the conditions governing the western package which was agreed in 1980-81 by Fianna Fáil when in Government. I cannot change it.
Is the Minister saying that the EC are to dictate to us as to what form of road improvement scheme we should operate? Is the Minister aware, as he must be aware from my question, that several householders in western areas are unable to have repairs carried out to the roads leading to their houses because of this stipulation? I have brought that matter to the notice of the Minister on a previous occasion. His Minister of State said then that he was not aware of any such case. I could fill the Order Paper with cases of this kind. There are now two clear cases before the Minister. The stipulation is presenting a major difficulty for rural dwellers. I am asking the Minister who has responsibility in this area if he is prepared to change the regulations. To hell with the EC. They do not live in the west of Ireland.
If the Deputy means to hell with the nine-tenths of the money that comes from the EC, that is fine.
There is only £2 million involved.
The Deputy's party when in Government negotiated this package. It was part of the regulations that one-tenth of the money be provided by the land owners who would benefit from the road works. These conditions will be looked at again next year and the Deputy can be assured that I will bear his point in mind at that time.
I am well aware that this scheme was negotiated when Fianna Fáil were in office but the Minister may be assured that if we were back in office it would be renegotiated.
It will be renegotiated.
Is the Minister aware that on a previous occasion, the Minister for Labour who was then Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, gave me a similar assurance? The late Deputy Coughlan and myself raised this matter here on numerous occasions more than two years ago.
The Deputy must ask a question.
Two years later no change has been made in the scheme. What are these people expected to do? Some of them cannot negotiate the roads to their houses and have had to leave their cars as far away as two or three miles from their homes.
The Deputy must confine himself to a question.
The Deputy is aware that the agreement is due to be renegotiated in the coming year and, as I have told him, the point he is making will be borne in mind at that time.
Would the Minister accept that an imposition is being put on people who do not have roads leading to their houses in that they are being asked to contribute to the work involved, whereas in about 90 per cent of the country roads are provided free of charge? Is this not unfair and unconstitutional? Would the Minister try to impress on the EC that the necessary finances must be provided to ensure that the people concerned have proper road access to their houses?
I am sure the Deputy will agree that neither roads nor anything else are free of charge. However, I accept the point he makes and when the renegotiation takes place that point will be brought forward.
In view of the fact——
This must be a final supplementary.
——that there is only £2 million provided in the Estimates for this scheme and that approximately £1 million of that is coming from the EC, would the Minister not provide a separate sum to cover those cases of people who are unable to benefit under the local improvements scheme because of the 10 per cent contribution requirement?
I answered a similar type of question from the Deputy last week when I told him that private roads were the responsibility of the land owners concerned. There is little point in my going over that ground again.
One final supplementary——
I have been more than generous with this question. We must move on to No. 6.
Can the Minister indicate if any allowance has been made for this scheme in the plan in view of the fact that the scheme is to be renegotiated next year?
That seems to be a separate question.
That would depend on the outcome of the negotiations.
One more question——
I have said that we must move on to the next question.
This is my final supplementary. Why have the Government so little regard for rural dwellers that they will not provide any funds for the repair of roads leading to their homes?
That is not a question.
There is no change from the time the Deputy's party were in Government in so far as this scheme is concerned.
That is not so.
