Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue for Kildare on the Adjournment of the House and I thank the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, for being here at this late hour to address the issue.

Kildare town, with a population of approximately 9,000 people, is serviced by an antiquated waste water treatment plant which discharges into the Tully River. The treatment plant is overloaded, with just about 9,000 person equivalents and, in any event, the Tully River is incapable of absorbing any further discharge.

The need for a new sewage treatment works was highlighted in the mid-1990s and the objective was firmly written into the 2002-08 development plan for Kildare town. Despite this, it was not until late 2005 that Kildare County Council completed its environmental impact statement on the waste water treatment plant. This was duly approved by An Bord Pleanála on 10 March 2006. Considerable documentation and correspondence passed back and forth between the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Kildare County Council between May and November 2006, when the Department rejected the council's procurement strategy for the waste water treatment plant.

I understand that following discussions between the council and Department officials, Kildare County Council will now consider delivering the treatment plant by way of a public private partnership arrangement or the design, build and operate option which it had previously ignored.

The protracted delay which has surrounded the delivery of this vital infrastructure for Kildare town has had serious consequences for the local community and the local economy. All construction work, other than that being undertaken by the local authority itself, is at a standstill and businesses have already moved out of the area as the council has operated a policy of refusing practically all planning applications until recently, when development proposals were permitted with the proviso that no construction take place until contract documents are signed for the new treatment works.

Kildare town was long regarded as one of the worst bottlenecks on the N7, until its bypass was completed at the end of 2003. It was generally expected that in returning the town to its people, a new development dynamic would be released which would see the town grow and prosper. This has been the experience in many other towns throughout the country, but has not yet come to pass in Kildare, because of the sewage treatment plant logjam.

I am extremely disappointed with the lack of priority which the council has given to this vital project over the past five years and with the lack of progress on a number of other important waste water projects in County Kildare. It has recently emerged that the major mid-Kildare waste water facility at Osberstown is near capacity and that it may be 2008 before a contract is in place for its extension. This situation is already beginning to impact negatively on developments in Naas and Newbridge.

When one looks at the lack of progress by the council on a variety of such projects across the county, one wonders whether the council, contrary to the provisions of its development plans, seeks to suppress the growth in the county's population by allowing these infrastructure deficits to prevail.

In terms of the current proposal for Kildare town, what is envisaged by Kildare County Council is a modular plant discharging via a lengthy pipeline to the River Barrow. The initial package would have a capacity for 14,000 person equivalents, which I suggest is wholly inadequate. As the lack of sewerage capacity has rendered the 2002 area plan for Kildare town totally redundant, we can expect an explosion of development on long-zoned lands as soon as treatment facilities are in place. It would be completely irresponsible to disregard this fact.

I urge the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to issue the speediest possible approval for the Kildare waste water treatment facility, which should have a minimum capacity for 25,000 person equivalents. I further request the Minister to review the delivery by Kildare County Council of water and sewerage schemes in the county.

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