Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Mulherin as ucht an t-ábhar seo a chur romhainn anocht. Tá sé an-thábhacht go dtiocfadh toradh maith as. I thank Deputy Mulherin for raising this matter. What is important is that we have a follow-up to this debate. I assure her I will bring her comments to the attention of Department officials tomorrow. It is vital that there is continuity and resolution if possible.

Following the enactment of the Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government assumed responsibility in January 2010 for a range of foreshore consent functions, including outfall pipes from waste water treatment plants. The proposal by Mayo County Council to construct an outfall pipe in Killala Bay from the Killala waste water treatment plant was one of a large number of projects for which foreshore applications had been submitted and on which decisions had not been finalised or conveyed to the project promoters prior to the transfer of foreshore functions. The application for the foreshore licence was originally made to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in August 2007 and is in respect of the proposed use of an existing outfall pipe which was the subject of a foreshore licence granted to another licensee in 1976.

The scientific and technical advisers to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food assessed the fresh application lodged in August 2007 and were satisfied, subject to specific conditions, to agree to the use of the existing outfall pipe as proposed by the council. However, the file did not proceed to the point where a formal submission was made to the Minister to grant the licence. Following the transfer of responsibility for the application to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the case was identified for attention as part of a comprehensive caseload analysis of all files, including those cases on which there were lengthy periods of inactivity prior to the transfer.

The reassignment of the licence from the existing licensee has raised complex legal issues regarding title requiring legal advice before a determination of the licence application can be safely made. Advice was sought from the Chief State Solicitor's office in September 2010 and work is ongoing in that office to clarify the legal basis upon which the case can be carried forward. Accordingly, because of the nature of this case, it is not yet clear when the legal advices will be available to the Department to enable the application to be determined. I will be pleased to bring this issue to the attention of the Department tomorrow morning, together with the Deputy's comments, with a view to advancing the matter, which has been ongoing since 2007.

See this speech in context