Vol. 463 No. 3
215 Mr. Molloy asked the Minister for the Environment the number of group water supply scheme applications awaiting approval in his Department; the date of the longest application waiting there; and the special action, if any, he is taking to deal with this situation. [6647/96]
There are up to 230 group water schemes at an advanced stage of planning at present. These are being considered for grant approval at present in the context of the finances available for new starts in 1996. There are a limited number of applications on hands for some time now which cannot be further progressed for various reasons including the non-availability of a suitable source of water supply, insufficient membership and overall economic viability. Given the variable circumstances affecting group scheme applications, the variations in the manner in which different applications are progressed by their promoters, and the number of cases which may be inactive, it would be impracticable to seek to determine the longest application outstanding.
In order to meet the current strong demand for new schemes, the Estimates provision was increased from £4.5 million in 1995 to £6 million in 1996.
