Vol. 519 No. 7
49 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if, in view of a civic link project under the auspices of Co-operation Ireland carried out by St. Louis community school into the poor water quality in Kiltimagh, County Mayo, he will approve the immediate extension of the Lough Mask scheme to Kiltimagh; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13360/00]
A preliminary report for the extension of the Lough Mask regional water supply scheme to Balla and Kiltimagh was submitted to my Department by Mayo County Council in 1990 but has not been approved. A revised proposal to divide the scheme into phases, with the initial phase serving Balla and a number of group schemes, was submitted by the council in April 1999 and has been given a high priority in the list of water schemes it has adopted in response to my Department's request to local authorities to undertake fresh assessments of the needs for capital works in their areas and to prioritise their proposals on the basis of the assessments. An extension from Balla to Kiltimagh has been included in the list as a requirement for the post 2006 period. The assessments will be taken into account in the framing of water services investment for this and future years under the National Development Plan 2000-2006.
