Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 278: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether the processing of water and sewerage schemes in his Department from conception to commissioning takes at least ten years; the proposals he has to address this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3042/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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When a water or sewerage scheme is first proposed it may take some time to be approved for inclusion in my Department's Water Services Investment Programme, depending critically on the priority afforded to it by the elected members of the local authority and the resources available for the overall Programme.

In the case of a scheme included in the Water Services Investment Programme, my Department's involvement at individual stages of schemes costing less than €5m is confined to approving the local authority's Design Brief and Preliminary Report, including the Water Pricing Policy Report. Schemes under €5m represent almost 60% of the 955 schemes in the current Investment Programme. For traditional style contracts exceeding €5m, my Department also approves the Contract Documents. In the case of Public Private Partnership contracts my Department, additionally, approves the local authority's Tender Recommendation.

My Department's objective is to deal with Preliminary Reports within six months of receipt. In the case of Contract Documents the target is four months and two months for Tender Recommendations. Design Briefs are generally cleared within a few weeks. Issues requiring clarification may arise between my Department and the local authority and could unavoidably extend these timescales.

Apart from these direct involvements by my Department, responsibility for each scheme, including appointment of consultants, statutory planning and other processes (including public consultation and approval of elected members), site investigations, acquisition of lands and wayleaves, preparation of tender documents, tendering process, appointment of contractors and carrying out of works, rests with the local authority. The amount of time taken to advance a scheme will depend largely on how quickly these processes are completed. My Department keeps the approval procedures for water services schemes under ongoing review and is committed to devolving as much responsibility as possible to local authorities, consistent with the requirements of the Department of Finance's Capital Appraisal Guidelines and my own Department's obligations relating to management and oversight of Exchequer expenditure.