Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter in the Dáil tonight. I am motivated to do so by the information that has come to my attention that the commitment of providing the necessary funding for a local sewerage scheme in Freshford, County Kilkenny, has been put back from 2008 to 2010 under the water services programme. It is a pity that the people in the area were not made aware of this matter at an event that took place in May 2007, but I suppose that is not unusual in political terms.

Freshford is an area of 1,500 people and, together with the villages of Johnstown and Goresbridge in County Kilkenny, it has been on the waiting list for a considerable period of time to get a contract to proceed under the water services programme. It is well located, being a ten-minute drive from Kilkenny city. It is a very picturesque and beautiful part of County Kilkenny, but it lacks the necessary infrastructure to allow the type of development that has gone on in other villages and towns. Recently it had a setback with the closure of the local meat factory. One of the problems that factory had over the years was difficulty in satisfying the local authority about the licensing arrangements for the disposal of sewage arising from the activity of that plant.

It is an indictment of the local authority and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in particular that the existing sewage treatment plant is no more than a septic tank that allows raw sewage to go into the River Nuenna in the village of Freshford. That has been the case for a considerable time. In the past four or five years, despite the best efforts of Kilkenny County Council, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been unable to provide the funds to allow this work to be carried out. The time has long passed for political promises from the Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, who circulated correspondence to everybody before the last general election stating that there would be no difficulty in proceeding with this scheme in 2008. Now we know the truth that there is a problem with the timing of the funding.

Every other town and village in the county has had a fair crack of the whip regarding funding for essential services and water and sewerage, but this village seems to have been left behind. People are having great difficulty getting planning approval for businesses and housing developments in the village. We should be encouraging those developers and promoters of those projects in this day and age in view of the decline in the level of interest in construction activity. We should be glad to have people willing to enter into private public partnerships or inject private investment into a place like Freshford to give it the necessary critical mass for the essential services required across the board, including child care and educational facilities.

I am told the contract price for the bundle of projects is €5.1 million, which is not a lot of money in this day and age. The preliminary report has been sent to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the past week. However, like other experiences I have had as Fine Gael spokesman on the environment, it seems to take four or five years for all the toing and froing between local authority and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government before money can be committed. However, in this case a solemn commitment was given by a Government representative that this project would be delivered in 2008. I am now told that July 2011 is the completion date for this project. The people of Freshford are incensed at the delay in the provision of this essential project. I ask the Minister of State to give us the necessary information that would allow the project to proceed as quickly as possible on behalf of the community of Freshford.

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