In December 1995, my Department approved Dublin Corporation's proposal to upgrade the waste water treatment facility at Ringsend by means of a design build project based on a single plant at the existing treatment works site. A notice inviting contractors to participate in the project was published in the national press in July of this year. The submissions received are currently being shortlisted by Dublin Corporation and it is expected that those companies to be shortlisted will be shortly invited to submit tenders for the proposed treatment works. In June 1997, the Minister for the Environment certified an environmental impact statement in respect of the proposal following the requisite public consultation procedure.
It is the responsibility of the relevant sanitary authority to put forward proposals for the design and specification of waste water treatment plants. No proposal arising from the "Dublin Flagship Initiative" has been submitted by Dublin Corporation in relation to the Ringsend project.