Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that my constituency colleague, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, is unavoidably absent today. I also acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle's reply and thank him for coming to the House to deal with this issue.

In many respects Ballinasloe is the forgotten town of County Galway. It has suffered major economic setbacks in recent years but there is a great community spirt in the town. Huge efforts are being made at local level to attract investment and enterprise. Ballinasloe has, I am told, some €26 million worth of sports facilities, a strong school base, a fabulous new library and prime office space, and it could be an ideal commuter town based, as it is, between Athlone and Galway city. However, it needs a lot more funding, although that is a debate for another day.

From talking to people in the community and in industry there, I can tell the Minister of State that the fear of this transfer station being put on their doorstep, just 2 km from the town, is causing extraordinary upset and annoyance. I accept that, under the 1996 Act, the Minister is precluded from getting involved in certain aspects of this. However, we, as politicians, have to take responsibility. The people of Ballinasloe and other places elect us and they expect me and others, such as the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to find a solution to these issues. In my view, putting this transfer station on a 73 acre site on the edge of Ballinasloe town is wrong. The community is determined to fight back and to bring jobs back into the town but while there is huge community spirit, it can be knocked back by something like this happening out of the blue.

I refer back to the High Court judgment in regard to the old dump, which had to be closed under order of the court. Now, we have this transfer station going across the road from where the dump was, which is another very serious legal issue. I want to know what monitoring is currently being done by the EPA on the gas emissions from the landfill which, as I said, is directly adjacent to the site that is now proposed for another dump. By the way, this is located very close to the River Suck. The Minister of State knows a fair bit about our rivers and lakes, and he will know there is serious flooding along the River Suck. Raising the land levels there will cause major flooding into the town of Ballinasloe.

I rest my case - I have made it as strong as I can. I am making it on behalf of the people of Ballinasloe. I hope I am not being over-dramatic about it because it is a very serious issue. I again thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to answer questions on the issue.

See this speech in context