Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House this morning. I thank her for her presence here.

I again raise the issue of the funding of Milltown group sewerage scheme. Those concerned await an announcement from the Department on the amount of funding and a start date. I have raised this issue here a few times previously with the responsible Minister of State at the time, Deputy English, and then with his replacement in November 2017. For the information of the Minister of State, Milltown group water scheme is a scheme of approximately 30 septic tanks that lie outside the periphery of Monaghan town. Unfortunately, septic tanks are causing a pollution and environmental issue and we are all very keen to get the matter addressed. The scheme did apply for funding and was successful, under the group sewage scheme, that is, the fund that was announced for 2016 to 2018. The group was one of six successful applicants and it has been waiting since on the go-ahead from the Department regarding the amount of money required. In order for this project to go ahead it is essential that this group get 90% of the funding. The Department and the Minister have accepted that and all we are waiting for is the announcement date. It is important that I pay tribute to and praise the work of the local community of Milltown in pulling all this together and putting in the application. I praise the hard-working committee, which had a lot of work to do to pull this together and make sure the application went in. Again I thank Monaghan County Council for its assistance in this regard. All we are waiting for now is good news from the Minister of State and I hope she will be in a position this morning to give us that.

I wish to ask two brief questions. The multi-annual programme we are discussing this morning was for 2016 to 2018. That has since expired and I hope the Minister of State has news today as to what are the Government's plans for the next phase in the future.Unfortunately only six applicants in the country were successful. That means only two per year were funded, which I am sure the Minister of State will agree is a very disappointing number. When it is announced this year, I hope that more groups will be eligible to apply because the fund will be much bigger.

The group schemes and the multi-annual programme need to be looked at. Considerable responsibility is placed on citizens to put an application together. For example, they must form a company, which needs directors with all the responsibility that goes with that. They have to hire an accountant and prepare accounts every year. They need legal representation. They need to collect money from the public. There is considerable work for people who do not necessarily have qualifications in any of those areas, which is unfair. I believe successful local authorities should be given a fund and they should lead the project, rather than expecting citizens in the local community to do it.