Mayo county manager Des Mahon has urged the elected members of the Mayo County Council to take up the polluter pays principle as a political issue as the council tries to plan its investment programme for the next year. Mr Paddy Mahon, director of services for water, gave the elected members the list of programmes the council has earmarked as priorities for the council over the coming year. While each project listed is a priority, the big issue was the local contribution that had to be made towards the scheme under the polluter pays principle.
Mr Mahon told the members after the discussion: “The big thing is polluter pays, having to contribute 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the project is a major issue. The polluter pays principle is a disincentive to rural Ireland, but it is an issue that has to be take up politically by each member.”
The council listed 14 priority projects it hopes to see completed inside the next three years, which run to a total cost of €125.8 million, which would see a local contribution of €29.3 million. These schemes include the long awaited Belmullet sewerage scheme waste water treatment plant, which has a due date of 2012 and a cost of €6 million. The percentage of the local contribution to these schemes varies from 13 per cent for the Castlebar and environs sewerage scheme up to 40.8 per cent for the Lough Mask extension to Louisburgh, with most of the projects varying from 28 per cent to 30 per cent.
