Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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189. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will make changes to the rural water multi-annual programme to allow for the funding of two demonstration group sewerage schemes per municipal area in County Westmeath; and if he will advance an application for such a scheme in the Coosan area of Athlone. [10570/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s new Multi-annual Rural Water Programme 2016-2018 was developed through a working group of key stakeholders involving local authorities, the Water Services Transition Office, Irish Water, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes as well as my Department.

The programme provides for the funding of demonstration Group Sewerage Schemes, through Measure 4(d), where clustering of households on individual septic tanks is not a viable option, particularly from an environmental perspective.

Local authorities were invited in January 2016 to submit bids under the programme. The invitation envisaged no more than two demonstration group sewerage projects being brought forward under the measure in any one year of the three year programme. The demonstrations will allow my Department, over the course of the programme, to determine the appropriate enduring funding levels and relationship with the current grant scheme. A Group Sewerage Scheme, for the Coosan area of Athlone, was not included by Westmeath County Council in its bids under Measure 4(d) of the Programme.

Under the new multi-annual funding framework, an Expert Panel was convened by my Department to examine proposals from local authorities for projects under a number of the programme’s measures, including Measure 4(d), and to make recommendations to the Department on funding. The Expert Panel recommended a priority list of demonstration schemes under this measure to my Department which accepted the recommendations in full when approving the 2016 rural water allocations.

As new demonstration group sewerage schemes have been identified for the duration of the programme, and as only two demonstration projects can be advanced in any given year, my Department does not propose to modify the programme at this point to allow the entry of any additional schemes.

A copy of the Expert Panel's report and consideration of all proposals under the Programme is available on my Department’s website at:

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