Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon is urging Galway Co. Council to prioritise Craughwell for investment in a new waste water treatment plant for the town.
He is doing so in the context of a new national funding programme announced last week by Local Government Minister Darragh O’Brien. The scheme targets the wastewater collection and treatment needs of villages and settlements without access to public waste water services, and is funded by a €50 million commitment under the National Development Plan.
“I have been engaging with Irish Water in an effort to have them develop a wastewater treatment plant for Craughwell. To date they have informed me that they have neither the remit, nor the funds to do so, which I find very disappointing.
“They are the body charged with delivering water services across our country. Craughwell is a town of almost 1,000 people with very serious waste water problems in a number of estates. The future development of Craughwell is also hampered by the lack of a wastewater facility”, said Deputy Cannon.
On April 6 last, Deputy Cannon recently raised the issue in Dáil Éireann, asking Taoiseach Micheal Martin if there were any plans to create a national funding programme to support towns like Craughwell.
“I made the case that the programme for government commits to the development of our rural towns and villages, and rightly so. However, there is an ongoing conflict whereby local authorities are urging people to move into our towns and villages, yet hundreds of those centres are without any kind of wastewater treatment system.
“I’m pleased that our government has now put a specific funding programme in place to support the development of wastewater treatment systems and I’m urging Galway Co. Council to prioritise Craughwell under this programme and to make a funding application immediately. Once our local authority makes an application, I will make a strong case at national level for funding,” concluded Deputy Cannon.
