asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the functions and obligations of the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell drainage district board County Leitrim, have never been taken over by any State authority; that the responsibility for the maintenance of the drainage in the district still in law remains with the trustees of the board, and the trustees have no mechanism for the recovery of any expenditure on drainage works for which they might have an obligation; if he will take steps to have this anomaly, with serious implications for many citizens, removed; and if he will make arrangements for funding the board to enable them to fulfil their obligations while retaining their identity arising out of their constitutional position as a cross-Border authority.

41.

asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Ballinamore/ Ballyconnell district drainage board County Leitrim still has obligations for drainage in the area without any source of funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 41 together. I am aware that responsibility for the maintenance of the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell drainage district rests with a committee of trustees who are elected every three years by the benefiting landowners in the district.

There is an adequate established mechanism whereby these trustees are statutorily empowered to levy and collect drainage rates from the benefiting landowners in the district to cover the cost of annual maintenance works. In turn each drainage rate payer is, by statute, empowered to recoup the amount of drainage rate paid from the respective County Councils of Cavan or Leitrim, in whose area they live.

This is a rather important question because we are dealing with a unique position so far as this is the only drainage board in the country that has not been taken over by the local authorities under the Drainage Act, 1937, because of its cross-Border dimension. It caters for approximately 40,000 acres of arable land. What the Minister has said is essentially right but it does not make commonsense.

Absolutely right.

Let us not argue. Let us have relevant questions please. Deputy Boylan must proceed by way of a direct question.

I want to tease this matter out.

If the Deputy wants a debate he will have to avail of another time. I will facilitate the Deputy if he asks a question.

Would the Minister not think it commonsense to reimburse Cavan and Leitrim County Councils with the amount of moneys that would be levied by the people doing the job which they are statutorily bound to do?

In response to the Deputy's question, the statutory position is as I have outlined. That is the legal statutory position and function pertaining to the drainage district board vis-à-vis the local authorities and that is the only way it can operate. That is the legal position.

Would the Minister of State accept that people in this area are at a disadvantage because of the unique constitutional position that exists so far as this drainage board is concerned? Therefore, would he consider making special arrangements so that they would be on a par with all other areas of the country so far as drainage is concerned?

I could not accept that these people are at a disadvantage. The fact that they are part of a cross-Border structure puts them in a better position than other areas. So far as I am concerned the professional advice from my Department has been and will continue to be available to the trustees and the people involved. We fulfil our statutory role by organising their meeting every three years.

To reimburse each individual landowner is a cumbersome way of going about this project. It would be much simpler to reimburse the local authorities. I ask the Minister in the interests of commonsense and because rates have been abolished from 1977 by the Minister's party, to look at the reasonable solution offered by the last Minister that he would reimburse the local authorities and allow the work to be done?

I am not aware of what solution was put forward by the last Minister in this matter. I have a statutory function to fulfil. I intend to fulfil that function and I am confident that the trustees will fulfil their function and co-operate with the local authorities.

Is the Minister not aware that in 1985 the then Minister for the Environment allowed the local authorities to reimburse the trustees and that they in turn were reimbursed?

That is the statutory position. The people who benefit from the land and who make a contribution to the trustees in order to carry out the maintenance may be reimbursed by the local authorities. That position still obtains.