Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 228: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason a village (details supplied) has been excluded from the water services investment programme in view of the fact that Wexford County Council has advanced the installation of sewage treatment facilities in the village, including hydrographic surveys, site determination, foreshore and discharge licence applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17486/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012, which I published last week provides for the development of a comprehensive range of new water services infrastructure in County Wexford. While provision is made to commence contracts to the value of some €64 million in the county during the period of the programme, it was not possible to include the Kilmore Quay Sewerage Scheme amongst the priority contracts and schemes selected for inclusion.

The new programme aims to prioritise projects that target environmental compliance issues and support economic and employment growth as envisaged in the Government's policy document Building Ireland's Smart Economy - A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal. A key input to the development of the programme was the assessment of needs prepared by local authorities, including Wexford County Council, in response to my Department's request to the authorities in 2009 to review and prioritise their proposals for new capital works in their areas. These were subsequently appraised by my Department in the context of the funds available and key criteria that complemented those used by the authorities. Inevitably, through this process, certain projects that had been proposed had to give way to others that are more strategically important at this time.

This evaluation included an examination of the towns and villages included in proposed bundled schemes. Any revisions to bundled projects, as in the case of the Wexford Villages Sewerage Scheme, reflect the need to align all of the schemes with programme priorities. Therefore, the new programme provides for the planning of the elements of the scheme relating to Arthurstown, Ballycanew, Clonroche, Duncannon and Wellingtonbridge to continue, but a number of other villages were not considered to have as high a relative priority. In addition, the scheme now provides for addressing the sewerage requirements for the villages of Ballyhack and Campile. The need to include these villages emerged after the completion of the needs assessment by Wexford County Council, in the context of the development of the Shellfish Waters Pollution Reduction Programme for Waterford Harbour, which was prepared in response to a European Court judgment.