Sewerage schemes making no progress

THERE is little prospect of any progress on three long-awaited West Clare sewerage schemes. That was the message given to local councillors at the January Kilrush Electoral Area meeting, which was held last week.
Councillor Pat Keane sought an update on schemes for Carrigaholt, Cooraclare and Labasheeda but, in a written reply, engineer Cyril Feeney didn’t hold out much hope of any imminent improvement.
“The area councillors will be aware that much work was done on these three schemes within the 2006-09 Water Services Investment Programme (WSIP). At the time the 2006-09 WSIP ended, Cooraclare was almost ready to go to tender, Carrigaholt was at an advanced stage of planning and Labasheeda had a large amount of planning work done.
“However under the new priorities of the 2010-12 WSIP, none of the three was approved for inclusion in the new programme. Clare County Council recommended the Carrigaholt scheme to the DECLG in the 2011 annual review of the WSIP, based on a specific environmental reason relating to shellfish waters nearby in the estuary but its inclusion was not approved.
“Unless the terms of the new WSIP from 2013 onwards allow more latitude to include schemes in small villages, it is difficult to see any way of further progressing these three schemes at present. It would be financially impossible for the council to proceed unilaterally with any of them without finance from the WSIP or other Government funding.”
Councillor Keane said he put forward the motion to keep the schemes “on the radar”.
He said there are people worried about the delays with the schemes. “There doesn’t seem to be much happening and people are concerned.
Councillor Keane added that Carrigaholt is “crying out” for such a scheme.
Councillor Bill Chambers said spending hundreds of thousands on getting schemes ready to go to tender but then shelving them is “ludicrous”.
The schemes have been on the agenda for a long time, Councillor Christy Curtin noted, while Councillor Gabriel Keating said it is important to remain positive going forward.
Some members complained that despite meetings with ministers, there has been a lack of progress, with a lack of attention for small rural areas.
Last summer, Clare County Council received the green light to proceed with the preliminary report for the Kilkee and Kilrush sewerage schemes.
Assistant senior executive engineer, Cyril Feeney told councillors at the August Kilrush Electoral Area meeting that the council could progress the next phase of this project, including Part Eight planning, land acquisition and appointment of consultants.
Mr Feeney stated the authority would then wait for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue discharge licences in order to submit detailed contracts for approval and inclusion in the Water Services Investment Programme.
Kilrush Electoral Area chairman, Councillor Oliver Garry expressed confidence the county council would not delay this project following official sanction for the preliminary report.
Councillor PJ Kelly recalled he had tabled several motions about this issue and stressed it was good to see this long-awaited project progressing along.
He predicted the project would not result in major Government expenditure when the return from tax and the employment it would generate was taken into account.