Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

459. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the progress to date on the taking in charge of developments with stand alone treatment plants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7357/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have made €10m available to be used in 2016 to fund a new National Taking in Charge Initiative that will assist local authorities in developing new approaches to addressing housing estates, including those with developer-provided water services infrastructure that, for various reasons, have not been taken in charge to date.

The initiative will involve the following:

(1) Provision by my Department of an indicative level of funding for local authorities to assist in developing demonstration projects and new working methods in tackling legacy estates.

(2) Funding will reflect both (a) the scale of estates not taken in charge and (b) the extent of developer provided water services infrastructure to be addressed, on the understanding that the Exchequer support is for 2016 only and will not create Exchequer liabilities beyond 2016.

(3) Submission by the local authorities of implementation proposals for the approval of my Department, to utilise the funding, establish demonstration projects, identify longer term funding sources and address the backlog of applications for taking in charge on hand.

(4) Publication of a national database of residential estates not taken in charge as a baseline for future action.

(5) Taking account of the experience gained from the 2016 initiative, to issue guidance to authorities on their further development of prioritised plans for taking in charge of estates from 2017 onwards, taking account of resources available through the initiative in the short term as supplemented by other funding sources in the medium to longer term.

The experience gained through the initiative in 2016 and associated demonstration projects is intended to establish a co-ordinated taking in charge programme to progressively address the issue on a multi-annual basis, in the light of available local authority, Irish Water, bond and other funding sources and the general government financial position.

I intend to advise each local authority of the indicative level of funding proposed to be made available to them in the very near future, after which they will be invited to submit proposals to be assessed by an advisory steering group.

Consideration of the submissions put forward by the local authorities on the basis of the provisional funding levels available will be weighted towards those local authorities that demonstrate a high level of collaborative problem solving and leveraging of complementary funding from developer, bond provider, receiver or other sources.