Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the issue of the provision of a sewerage scheme for Shanagolden village in County Limerick. Shanagolden is situated in the western part of the county, west of Askeaton. It is a very old town dating back to ancient Christian times and has a great heart. However, it is prevented from developing because its sewerage scheme needs updating.

Shanagolden is in an area of great population decline where the exit from farming or the transfer to part-time farming has been very pronounced. There is a great need for an injection of economic activity into the area. The construction of a new sewerage scheme would ensure this injection. People have proposed developments for Shanagolden. A year and a half ago, one person proposed a €19 million private housing development for the village but it could not proceed because of the lack of the sewerage scheme. A local person proposed 12 apartments for the village but that could not proceed because of the same lack.

Last April, during a discussion at an area committee meeting of Limerick County Council, the assistant county manager pointed out that the council owns lands in Shanagolden in excess of its needs. The council was approached by a developer who wanted to purchase some of this land to build private housing, but because the sewerage scheme was not in place, this could not proceed.

If the Government were to respond to this issue, the entrepreneurs who see potential for development in Shanagolden would come into the village, develop it and bring new people to an area in decline. Shanagolden is twinned with Foynes, where there has been flooding and many sewerage difficulties, and the provision of a new sewerage scheme for Shanagolden would also overcome the difficulties in Foynes.

The Government is obstructing the opportunity for the village to develop. That opportunity may not be around forever. It may not be around next year or in five years' time. We have no indication, other than at election time, that anything will happen with regard to the sewerage scheme. The same applies to other areas such as Askeaton, Glin, Athea, Drumcolligher, Adare, Bruff and other areas where there is an opportunity for villages and towns to develop, yet they are denied that opportunity.

All the development is around the city of Limerick. We have no problem with that but in the rural areas we want to take the opportunity, while development plans are available, to bring them to those areas. In Limerick, villages are being downgraded to rural areas. Villages accepted as such under previous country development plans are now designated as rural areas. For development purposes, they are no longer designated as villages. We are asking the Minister to give us the opportunity, by way of funding, to develop those villages. In this instance, because the opportunity of development in Shanagolden is staring us in the face, we ask that it be facilitated.

I am also concerned that many of the parliamentary questions I table get responses related to matters that need to be attended to by Limerick County Council. I have discussed this with the council and its representatives tell me that much of the information required merely involves nit-picking. It is information which could be given over the phone and followed up on very quickly. This is merely an excuse to delay answering the question in this House. We ask the Minister of State to facilitate the growth of this village.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I am glad to have the opportunity to give an update on the scheme.

My Department's water services investment programme for 2004 to 2006 was published in May 2004 and includes funding for more than 20 water and sewerage schemes throughout County Limerick. Towns and villages including Adare, Patrickswell, Athea, Askeaton, Foynes, Glin and Kilmallock can look forward to new or upgraded sewerage schemes.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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When?

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Many areas will also benefit from improved water supplies from the major upgrade planned for the Clareville water treatment plant, improvements to the Shannon Estuary water supply scheme and extensions of the County Limerick trunk water mains. In total, almost €143 million is being invested under the water services investment programme in County Limerick.

I am glad to be able to confirm that part of this funding has been set aside for the Shanagolden sewerage scheme. The scheme is being advanced as a grouped project in conjunction with the Athea, Askeaton, and Foynes sewerage schemes and it is also proposed to now include Glin sewerage scheme in this group.

The project is a major infrastructural undertaking that envisages a combination of upgraded, extended and newly built wastewater treatment infrastructure and sewage collection networks as required in each location. It will play a major role in allowing each of these communities to develop their residential and commercial sectors. The scheme has been assigned construction status by my Department in the water services investment programme and the council will be able to prepare contract documents once it has submitted and received approval from my Department for the preliminary report for each of the locations encompassed by the project.

The position with regard to the preliminary reports is that my Department approved Limerick County Council's brief for the appointment of consultants to produce preliminary reports for Askeaton, Athea, Foynes and Shanagolden in 2002. We subsequently authorised the fees for the consultants selected by the council. That would ordinarily have cleared the way for work to start on the preliminary reports. However, later in 2003, the council submitted substantially increased fee proposals based on significantly higher scheme costs.

Approval for a further increase in the consultants' fees was sought in 2004, when it was decided to incorporate the Glin sewerage scheme into the group. It has not been possible for the Department to approve these fee increases, which result from an upward revision in the projected cost of the overall scheme from €17.5 million to €28 million.

Following correspondence and consultations between the council and the Department, further information was requested from the council last month to enable the scheme to move forward. The council has been asked to produce an economic justification for the increased costs along with details of the existing housing and projected future residential development the scheme is intended to service. These additional data are required to allow my Department to determine a preliminary budget for the scheme and to respond to the council's submission on the increased fee proposals.

I assure the Deputy that I have taken note of what he has said about the need to get this project moving and that the council's response will receive urgent consideration in my Department when it comes to hand.