*Photograph: John Mangan
WITH BROADFORD set to be the area in Clare to benefit from a new €50m nationwide sewerage scheme, action is needed to get other parts of the county required for subsequent rounds of funding local representatives have stressed.
Referencing “absence of any action from Irish Water,” Cllr Shane Talty (FF) appealed to Clare County Council to conduct a feasibility study on linking a wastewater system in Doolin to the existing treatment plant in Lisdoonvarna. “This study was promised to Doolin Tourism when the Lisdoonvarna scheme was installed over twenty years ago,” he stated.
Senior engineer in the environment and water sections of the Council, Cyril Feeney explained that Irish Water and not the local authority are “the relevant water services authority” when it comes to provision of infrastructure, preliminary reports and feasibility studies.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Talty noted of the announcement by Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien (FF), “the narrative is that Broadford is our project for that funding scheme”.
Attempts to progress the study have been ongoing for the past three years, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) highlighted. He recalled that an application for RRDF was put forward by the Council but was deemed not to be suitable. “It is holding back huge development in these areas,” he remarked of the absence of wastewater infrastructure. Efforts by Cllr Talty were “trying to be creative with a solution,” Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) observed.
Director of Rural Development, Leonard Cleary acknowledged the frustration of councillors. He queried if Cllr Talty was still keen for the matter to be brought before Irish Water’s attention to which the Lahinch man replied, “It can’t do any harm to send it to Irish Water but that’s not a solution because they won’t do anything”.
Action needs to begin so that Doolin and Lisdoonvarna will be the ones to benefit after Broadford, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) commented. “There is no point watching if it just happens in Broadford, we need to be saying what do we put in place so we’re in that position for the next round of funding”.
