Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this important issue. Last Monday night I had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the Doolin Tourism Co-Operative Society at the community centre. The members of that society are extremely angry. The Minister will be aware that Doolin is not just a tourist attraction of national importance, but is renowned internationally. It has been featured in Time magazine and is famous for its music, through Micho Russell, and its scenery, atmosphere and the friendliness of its people. However, it does not have a proper sewerage scheme.

It would be bad enough if this was the extent of the problem. Unfortunately, however, every other piece of critical infrastructure gets long-fingered due to the fact that there is no sewerage scheme in place. Clare County Council is refusing to put in place any critical infrastructure until it is in place. I do not know if the Minister has ever had the pleasure of visiting the area. If he has not, I recommend that he do so. Other Ministers have visited in recent times, including the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine, Deputy Browne, in the course of their electioneering.

Doolin is situated at the edge of the Burren. It attracts many walking tourists who spend a night or more in the village. The village has four hotels, four hostels, 40 bed and breakfast establishments, two campsites or 120 self-catering units. Visitors use Doolin as a base for visiting the new Cliffs of Moher interpretative centre or the Aran Islands. Like many rural Irish villages, Doolin has an extended character. It is a long village with commercial interests dotted from Fisher Street to the Roman Catholic church. This necessitates much walking between different areas of the village. However, with record traffic levels in recent years, it is uncomfortable and unsafe to walk through the village.

Doolin has a limited number of footpaths, little public lighting and the road through the village is narrow. Anybody who has driven through the village to access the ferry to the Aran Islands will remember how difficult this can be, particularly in the summer season. There is not enough space for two vehicles to pass. This makes it extremely uncomfortable for residents and tourists who are on foot. It is, as was pointed out this week, a health and safety issue apart from anything else.

This is a problem facing many such villages, not just in Clare but also nationally. It is a problem for the people of Quilty, further down the coast, who lobbied for many years for a sewerage plant, pointing out that the village was dying because of the lack of this critical infrastructure. Other villages on the Clare coast include Liscannor, Spanish Point, Carrigaholt and Labasheeda, all of which lack development and sewerage schemes. It is true that in recent weeks schemes have been approved for Scariff, Feakle and Mullagh. However, many other towns are affected by the lack of such facilities. The Minister should heed what happened in Galway. As a result of the infrastructure not being put in place, the city has a huge water pollution problem due to the sewerage plant at Oughterard.

One of the best selling points of Doolin is the magnificent quality of the waters on the coast of Clare. This is what attracts tourists to Doolin. Approximately 2,500 travel through Doolin every day during the summer months. That is a huge number for a small village with no critical infrastructure or sewerage scheme. These tourists look out on the blue Atlantic not realising the problems being experienced by local people.

I understand from Clare County Council that there is a delay with the Doolin scheme, which is coupled with Ballyvaughan and Corofin. It relates to the council's application for a foreshore licence from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. However, as the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is the overall co-ordinator of this application, I ask the Minister to fast track this process in the interests of tourism and the people of west Clare. Doolin is the jewel of west Clare and it is wrong that one of the biggest tourist destinations in the county is so under-developed. This shoddy service is not good enough. Perhaps the Minister will outline the updated position and whether the foreshore licence issue can be resolved, so the people of Doolin can have a 21st century sewerage andwastewater system.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Doolin sewerage scheme, which is being advanced as a grouped project with schemes for Ballyvaughan and Corofin, is approved for funding in the Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2005 — 2007. The estimated cost of the schemes is €17.5 million, the vast bulk of which the Department will be funding. Doolin is one of more than 20 schemes being put in place to provide modern water and wastewater services in almost 40 different areas of the county. The overall value of this package is €196 million and it will make a huge difference to environmental standards and development opportunities all over Clare.

The Doolin-Ballyvaughan-Corofin project will provide new wastewater treatment plants for each of the three locations, as well as new and improved sewage collection networks. The modern wastewater infrastructure being put in place will be able to cater for the current population, as well as having spare capacity to accommodate future needs. It will play a major role in facilitating development and supporting the tourism sector, which is of paramount importance in these parts of Clare.

High unit costs have been an issue with a number of sewerage schemes in Clare and have required careful fine-tuning to bring the costs down to a level where they could be justified in economic terms. This was successfully achieved with the Feakle-Scarriff-Quilty scheme where the Exchequer contribution has been agreed and the council is now in the process of inviting tenders for the collection systems. It should soon also be able to go to tender for the treatment plants.

The same issue of affordability has arisen with the Doolin-Ballyvaughan-Corofin project, although the costs in this case are much less severe and will be easier to resolve. Clare County Council was asked by the Department to review the costings for the three areas and to make any necessary adjustments to the proposals to ensure that the most cost-effective solutions were being put forward for Exchequer funding. The council's response is being examined in the Department and I expect it to be able to respond later this month. I am optimistic that the response will be positive.

I am also aware that the council has applied to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for foreshore licences for the Doolin and Ballyvaughan schemes where the discharges will be into the sea. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has consulted my Department's national parks and wildlife section, NPWS, because of the possible impact of the sea outfalls on special areas of conservation, SAC. As part of this process, the council intends meeting NPWS shortly to discuss how best the SAC dimension can be dealt with and I hope these discussions will pave the way for early approval of the foreshore licences.

I emphasise that the funding has been allocated for these schemes and it is now a matter of getting them through the planning and procurement stages as quickly as possible. I will do everything I can to be of assistance in that regard. Once the foreshore licences are in place, the council will be able to prepare contract documents and then move on to tender stage. I understand Deputy Pat Breen's desire to see the works starting as quickly as possible and I look forward to and hope we can expect early progress in that direction.