Irish Minister of State, Tony Killeen, has warmly welcomed the Government's announcement concerning two major infrastructure projects in north and west Clare.

According to the Clare TD: "Mr John Gormley, TD, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has informed me of his decision to give approval to Clare County Council to invite tenders for the construction of the new wastewater treatment plant for Corofin. The Minister has also allocated Exchequer funding of more than €1.5m for the Carrigaholt and Labasheeda Sewerage Scheme."

Minister Killeen expressed his delight that significant movement had finally been made on advancing both projects.

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He added that he was "glad" that Minister gormley has acknowledged the "importance of these schemes" to development and other economic activity, "as well as the preservation of environmental standards in each location".

Commenting on the Corofin scheme, the Junior Agriculture Minister said: "Clare County Council has already received tenders for the new sewage collection system and I understand that they expect to be signing contracts for this work shortly. Minister Gormley's approval will allow the local authority to also invite tenders for the other major element of the scheme, the new wastewater treatment plant with capacity to cater for a population equivalent of 3,000 people. His Department is providing grant assistance of over €2.8m towards this scheme, which, overall, is expected to cost in the region of €5.72m."

"Following receipt of revised proposals from Clare County Council for the Carrigaholt/Labasheeda scheme, Minister Gormley has now also approved grant assistance of over €1.5m for this project. This clears the way for Clare County Council to draw up contract documents, the main step in getting the scheme to the construction stage," Minister Killeen concluded.

(JM)