A fifty year wait for a sewerage scheme in Broadford is to end this October with the infrastructure to be approved in the coming months.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien (FF) visited the East Clare village on Friday evening where he issued a strong commitment to PJ Mason and members of the Broadford Action Group that the scheme would be given the green light in October under the National Development Plan review.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Minister O’Brien confirmed his intentions to help Broadford. “I’m going to meet the residents in Broadford because there are a number of towns and villages across the country not just exclusively on the west coast which basically have no wastewater infrastructure or no Irish Water wastewater infrastructure and we need to see how we will be able to help there.
“We also have Cooraclare, Doolin and Carrigaholt, every county has those issues which gives you the scale of the job we have to do. Last year, I gave €188m extra in capital to Irish Water, now we have to look at the towns and villages where we want people to start living in again and to regenerate, we can only do that if we have the wastewater and freshwater capacity to do so. I’d expect in the National Development Plan review that we are working on a scheme that is able to help villages like Broadford”.
Young people have been forced out of the village due to the absence of the infrastructure, Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF) remarked. He praised the relentless campaigning of locals over the past five decades. “For all intents and purposes this is a shovel ready project, and this sets it apart from other unsewered villages, in that once funding is allocated, it can be delivered in a relatively short timeframe”.
Of the NDP review, the Meelick native commented, “This is only eight weeks away and it’s the best possible indication that Broadford and its residents have had that they will have 21st century sewerage scheme. Broadford has had far too many false dawns and the lack of infrastructure has meant that the village cannot grow. Too many young people have left the village to set up home elsewhere and proper sewerage is seen as an enabler for village growth and the future sustainability of the village”.
Clare TD, Michael McNamara (IND) has requested the Minister to consider including Carrigaholt, Cooraclare and Doolin in a pilot scheme providing funding for infrastructure in rural villages that currently are outside Irish Water’s investment programmes.
With Broadford included, Deputy McNamara believed the “wide ranging and long lasting” for Clare’s other villages must be taken into consideration. He praised Minister O’Brien for his delivery of “vital” infrastructure projects in Clare, including the recent investment in Liscannor’s wastewater infrastructure, the upgrade of sewerage infrastructure in Clarecastle, and the watermain replacement scheme in Miltown Malbay, Mullagh and surrounding areas. “I wish to commend Minister O’Brien for his non-partisan approach to dealing with problems within his remit on the basis of need”.
