Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue, and I am glad to have the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who was referred to by Deputy Pat Breen.

The Minister is aware that several "boil water" notices have been issued in Ennis in recent years. He accepts that having to boil water, necessary though it may be to protect public health, causes inconvenience, distress and anxiety.

The Ennis town water supply treatment scheme, which will provide a new water treatment plant for the town and supply the people of Ennis with a consistently high quality drinking water supply well into the foreseeable future, has been approved for construction in the Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007, at a cost of over €6.6 million.

The Department has been working closely with Clare County Council to progress that scheme. The Minister is glad to say that the council's tender report and recommendation for the scheme were received earlier this month and are being examined urgently by the Department. As soon as they have been approved, the council will be able to place the contract for the construction of the new plant.

The Department has also been providing special assistance to Clare County Council under the local government fund towards the operational cost of a temporary treatment plant until the new permanent infrastructure becomes operational. As a result of the installation of the temporary plant last year, the "boil water" notice was lifted for the generality of Ennis consumers with immediate effect on 15 December last. However, as a precautionary measure, the HSE has instructed that the notice should continue to apply for the present to persons who are immuno-compromised, infants and pre-school children.

It is a matter for Clare County Council, as the sanitary authority, to determine, in light of the likely duration of the limited precautionary "boil water" regime, whether further exceptional arrangements regarding water supply are appropriate for those cases. However, the council is hopeful of being able to lift the existing precautionary notice in the near future.

A separate Ennis town water supply augmentation scheme, which will provide Ennis with a supplementary water supply from Castlelake, has also been approved for construction under the Department's water services investment programme. The Department has already approved the county council's proposals to lay some of the pipes for that scheme, at an estimated cost of some €5.5 million, in conjunction with the Ennis bypass.

The Ennis Clarecastle sewerage scheme, which is sometimes referred to as the Ennis main drainage scheme, has also been approved for construction under the Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007. That scheme has an estimated cost of over €57 million, and funding is available for draw-down under the programme as it is advanced.

The Minister approved the council's preliminary report and the preparation of contract documents for the scheme last September, and I understand the council has advertised for consultants to prepare the contract documents.

I stress the Minister is anxious to see these Ennis schemes reach construction and that the Department will facilitate that in every possible way.

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