“Minister must escalate funding request for Cadamstown Group Water Scheme” - TD
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has said that despite ongoing correspondence between Offaly County Council and his Department, ‘further information’ is still being requested from the local authority before a funding application to cover the cost of works carried out at the Cadamstown Group Water Scheme (GWS) last summer can be approved.
The Minister was responding to a representation from Independent TD Carol Nolan, who had engaged with the Minister’s office in an attempt to resolve the delays that Cadamstown GWS say will have a negative impact on its capacity to develop a new more secure and protected well.
Last August the Committee of the Cadamstown GWS were forced to ration water supply to different areas of the scheme each day due to low water levels. The situation then developed into a need to drill a new borehole which cost €20,000 and which was all paid for by the scheme at the time.
Cadamstown GWS say that despite having applied for grant aid assistance to Offaly Co Co last year, who in turn requested funding from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, they have still not received any funding.
The GWS now need to develop the new well into a production well but in the absence of funding this will be difficult if not impossible to afford:
“I am calling on the Minister to move this issue along as fast as possible and to allow Cadamstown GWS to proceed with its plans to develop a more secure source of drinking water for its members and the community that it serves,” said Deputy Nolan.
“I fail to see what the alternative is in terms of approving the funding because if it is not provided then the GWS members will simply be back to square one with likely interruptions to their future water supply.
“I will continue my engagement with the minister and the Department on this matter until we have the matter resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned,” concluded Deputy Nolan.