asked the Minister for the Environment if he will sanction the Lucan low level pumping station.

The contract documents for the Lucan low level pumping station which were recently submitted to my Department are under technical examination at present. While there will be no avoidable delay, I am not in a position to say when a decision may be made on the matter.

Could I emphasise to the Minister of State that the local authority see this as one of their priority requirements? Would he speed up consideration of this at technical level? It has been considered through a number of stages and this is really a delaying tactic. I ask him to speed up a decision on it. It is required.

I would be very happy to speed it up. We got the contract documents only on 17 February.

I am aware of that.

It is a technical situation. I assure the Deputy and the House that there will be no avoidable delay.