Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 7

Written Answers. - River Erne Drainage Works.

Seymour Crawford

Ceist:

88 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Finance, the plans, if any, he has to have cleaning work carried out on the River Erne and its tributaries, in view of the fact that the Erne catchment area straddles the border between counties Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh, the cleaning of the Erne would alleviate the serious flooding problems in the area and enhance the potential for tourism and fishing and that it appears to be an obvious project for the INTEREG EU funded scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Dempsey)

The powers of the Commissioners of Public Works to carry out drainage works are derived solely from the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945 and relate to the execution of works by way of comprehensive schemes for the entire river catchment area.

The Erne river catchment is No. 10 on the priority list of major catchments (catchments over 100,000 acres) in the national arterial drainage programme— a scheme for that part of the catchment lying in the State and outfalling at Belturbet was prepared in 1970. The project was not proceeded with on economic grounds as the cost of the works required would have far exceeded any benefits that would accrue from the scheme.

In the early 1990s, after extensive investigation, a drainage scheme for the Finn/Lacky catchment and a cross-border sub-catchment of the Erne, was considered as a joint venture with the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland. However, this too was not proceeded with on economic grounds.