Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I welcome the fact the decision on funding will be made by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, shortly. The local authorities will be relieved to see progress on that. I also welcome the fact there is an independent panel. I note that my colleague, Councillor PJ Murphy, is hugely interested in the progress of these applications in Craughwell and in Clarinbridge. Will the Minister of State convey the view that with the level of surpluses we have at the moment, local authorities should get the benefit of additional funding? As I said, there is a huge list and I listed some of those in Galway West alone. There is another page relating to Galway East and the Minister of State will have some 20 or 30 in Mayo as well. In terms of improving the environment locally, and as the Minister of State knows the Clarinbridge oyster is famous, anything that can improve water quality would be beneficial in terms of the future expansion of areas around Galway city and it would take pressure off certain areas where there is a high level of growth. It should be expanded that to towns and villages around the county and country.