Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to respond to Deputy Breen's issue which is important for the people in Carrigaholt and County Clare.

Clare County Council carried out a feasibility study on the proposed Carrigaholt group sewerage scheme with a view to ascertaining the viability of the scheme and it reported the estimated cost of the scheme to be €1.233 million. The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government informed the council earlier this year that it agreed with the feasibility study's findings that the proposed scheme and treatment for it, by way of an integrated constructed wetland, rather than connection to an existing public network was not financially viable to design and construct as a group sewerage scheme. The development of such a scheme would require significant and unrealistic demands on the contributors to, and potential group members of, the scheme. Managing the design and construction of a project of this nature and scale and maintaining the scheme into the future would not be a feasible option for a voluntary committee. The Department informed the council that the proposed scheme at Carrigaholt does not meet with the general terms and conditions of the group sewerage grant scheme. In view of the size, costs and the complexity of constructing and operating such a scheme, this scheme could not be considered for funding under the Department’s group sewerage grant scheme.

In the absence of a viable group sewerage scheme, Clare County Council was told it should liaise with Irish Water on identifying and putting in place appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the people of Carrigaholt which would involve public water infrastructure. The Department has recently established a working group involving key stakeholders in the rural water sector to address the overall development of the rural water sector within the overall water sector reform programme to ensure that the programme responds effectively to current and future needs. Local authorities, the Water Services Transition Office, Irish Water, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes, as well as the Department are represented on the working group. One of the tasks of the group is to develop a multi-annual approach to targeting funding to meet the priority needs of the sector.

The working group is also considering several areas where there are potential boundary issues with Irish Water or legacy issues that need to be addressed. New approaches in this area will be informed by several demonstration projects or pilot schemes, including ones relating to group sewerage schemes. We expect to contact local authorities very shortly to determine funding requirements and demonstration projects. It will be a matter for Clare County Council in the first instance to submit proposals in this regard and Deputy Breen might be happy to engage with the council on this. In totality, this will result in a new approach to the funding of group water and sewerage schemes for 2016 onwards.

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