Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this timely Bill and congratulate Deputy Gilmore and the Labour Party on introducing it. I represent a rural constituency and while we have experienced some problems with estates, notably in east Limerick, they have not been of the scale experienced in more urban areas.

I will raise an issue related to the Bill. In some senses the problem my constituency faces with regard to development is at the other end of the scale from those described by other speakers. The policy on once-off housing enunciated by the previous Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government appears to have disappeared after the local elections. In my constituency a number of individuals are interested in developing our towns and villages but we do not have the necessary sewerage facilities to do so. One person applied to develop houses in Shanagolden in County Limerick at a cost of €17 million. He proposed to purchase land and build 80 to 90 houses on it and his own land but the sewerage scheme could not sustain such development. Another applicant was prepared to develop a smaller number of houses. Increasingly, people are prepared to develop areas 15, 20 or 25 miles from Limerick city but the villages cannot sustain development because of the sewerage schemes.

Shanagolden-Foynes has been promised a sewerage scheme for many years. In discussing the issue with the planners, members of the local authority indicated that if we were confident the scheme would be in place in the next five years, we would give developers planning permission on condition that they wait for the sewerage scheme. I was amazed that the planning authority was not confident that the scheme would be developed in the next five years.

From tabling parliamentary questions and in discussions in the county council, I have found that the Department nit-picks with regard to the submissions made by the council. In other words, instead of settling matters across a table or in a telephone call, new applications, investigations and reams of paperwork are required. For example, in the case of the proposed Shanagolden-Foynes sewerage scheme, the Department questioned the cost of the consultants dealing with the proposal. While this is legitimate, I have been informed it will delay the process by six to eight months. Surely the Department should have lifted a telephone and sought an explanation.

The Minister's replies to parliamentary questions frequently state that the Department is awaiting A, B or C from the county council. The council, on the other hand, states that the issues concerned are minor. The Department is engaged in a delaying exercise. If it does not wish to invest, it should say so or tell us when moneys will be allocated so that we can plan. Similar circumstances have arisen with regard to the Glin, Bruff, Kildimo and Pallaskenry sewerage schemes. The Minister has highlighted other schemes which, if developed——

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