I propose to take Question Nos. 554 to 557, inclusive, together.
I presume the questions relate to General Purpose Grants from the Local Government Fund. General Purpose Grants, which replaced the Rate Support Grant in 1997, are my contribution to meeting the difference between the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of day to day services (including water services) and the income available to them from local sources and from specific grants. For the purposes of allocations, a range of factors is taken into account, including each local authority's expenditure on, and income from, each service, and the overall amount of funding available for distribution. It is not possible to separate out the amount of these general purpose grants that were used to hand the operational cuts of water and wastewater services.
It is a matter for each local authority to prioritise its spending, within the resources available to it, across the range of services it provides. Equally, local authorities must ensure full value for money for the resources invested, and seek the maximum efficiency across their operations. In addition to the General Purpose Grant, a specific grant is made for certain operational and maintenance costs, mainly in respect of recently completed treatment plants to cover the first 24 months of operation and maintenance. This was introduced in 2005. The table outlines the grant amounts in full since that date.
In relation to the costs of operating private wastewater treatment systems, the Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011, which provides for the establishment of a system of registration and inspection of septic tanks and other on-site systems, was published on 3 November 2011. I have indicated, during the consideration of the Bill in both the Dáil and the Seanad, that I will keep under review options to provide financial support to householders whose domestic wastewater treatment systems are deemed, following inspection, to require substantial remediation or upgrading. Any such support would have to take account of the overall very difficult budgetary situation.
Year
|
General Purpose Grants,
|
Operation and Maintenance grant
|
2012
|
€651,000,000
|
€11,100,000
|
2011
|
€790,000,000
|
€11,100,000
|
2010
|
€870,000,000
|
€20,500,000
|
2009
|
€905,155,681
|
€23,400,000
|
2008
|
€999,212,658
|
€23,400,000
|
2007
|
€947,637,949
|
€5,000,000
|
2006
|
€877,353,776
|
€7,500,000
|
2005
|
€816,987,264
|
€8,000,000
|