It has been confirmed that the Government is to go ahead with a €500 million regional sewage treatment plant at Clonshaugh. This is a project that has caused considerable concern, anxiety, fear and opposition across north Dublin. More than 700,000 people will allegedly be served by this treatment plant and a 26 km orbital sewer will reach the sea between Baldoyle and the Portmarnock estuary. Alarmingly, the treatment plant is only a secondary treatment plant in that the level of treatment will be at secondary and not tertiary level. The impact on farming and, in particular, on the coastline and on fisheries will be very significant given the fact that up to 1,000 litres of sewage will be pumped every second. As this sewage will not be fully treated, this will clearly have implications for the local environment and the area concerned.

I point out that when this issue came to the Upper House, Senator Darragh O'Brien raised it with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, who said Senator O'Brien had made very constructive points during the debate and went on to say: "I am giving an undertaking now to the Senator that I will have it investigated." He also made other points about the propensity of engineers to have big projects.

The Minister, Deputy James Reilly, has now supported the project. He thinks that because it is on a flight path, this renders it more supportable. Of course, he spoke out against it when there was potential for it to go to Rush and Lusk, and, true to form, he thought it would have a huge impact on local fisheries there, but obviously he thinks it will have no impact on local fisheries in Portmarnock or Baldoyle.

Some 12,000 residents formally lodged a complaint. The various organisations sought meetings with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, but were refused point-blank. Will the Taoiseach undertake to ensure, at a minimum, that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, meets the residents' organisations and associations to hear first-hand their concerns and anxieties and to have the issue debated? Second, will he undertake to ensure that the investigation the Minister, Deputy Howlin, spoke about in the Seanad will be followed through on and that a cost-benefit analysis will be carried out, as well as an investigation into the overall rationale and viability of the project?

The point I put to the Taoiseach is that 12,000 residents complained and formally lodged a complaint. The various organisations sought meetings with the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, but were refused point blank. Will the Taoiseach undertake, at a minimum, that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, would meet with the residents organisations and associations to hear first hand their concerns and anxieties and to have the issue debated? Second, will he undertake that the investigation the Minister, Deputy Howlin, spoke about the Seanad will be followed through on and that a cost-benefit analysis will be carried out as well as an investigation into the overall rationale and viability of the project at this stage?

I thank Deputy Martin for his question. It should be noted that, in the first instance, this is a matter for Fingal County Council. The role of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in regard to water services projects is to provide capital funding for the works that are involved. Beyond the inclusion of the project in the investment programme for planning and funding of the planning stage, the Minister has had no role in the development of these proposals. It is a matter for Fingal County Council to advance this project further in the planning process.

Following the identification of a preferred site by Fingal County Council, the council is required to prepare detailed plans and complete an environmental impact statement, EIS. That EIS, together with the planning application under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006, will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála, which will carry out its own statutory public consultation on this project.

Deputy Martin is aware that in March 2011, Fingal County Council appointed consultants to prepare a preliminary report and an environmental impact assessment for the greater Dublin regional drainage project, the north Dublin treatment plant and the orbital sewer. The identification of potential locations for the regional wastewater treatment plant was an important part of this process. The general scope of that project has been developed as part of the greater Dublin strategic drainage study and the strategic environmental assessment of that study.

I understand that as part of the alternative sites assessment process for the project, Fingal County Council identified nine different potential land parcels in the northern part of the greater Dublin area within which a proposed regional wastewater treatment plant could potentially be located, along with a marine outfall and an orbital drainage system. Of these nine land parcels, three sites were then identified by the council as the preferred site options. Yesterday, the council announced that the preferred option for the location of the wastewater treatment plant is at Clonshaugh, with the outfall pipe being 6 km out to sea from Baldoyle. Non-statutory public consultation was carried out at each stage of this process by the council. I understand that the announcement was made to the elected members of Fingal County Council at the council meeting held yesterday afternoon. The council has determined that the Clonshaugh option is the better ecological and environmental solution, is more technically advantageous and provides the best value for money.

Deputy Terence Flanagan does not look happy.

The next steps are that the council will prepare its detailed plans and complete the EIS, which will be lodged with An Bord Pleanála, and the board will carry out its own statutory public consultation on the project. Open days are being held at Fingal County Council, County Hall, Swords, on 26 June, 29 June and 3 July.

As to whether there was any Government funding of the work to date, proposals for the north Dublin wastewater treatment plant and the orbital sewer are included as a scheme to advance through planning in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's water services investment programme for 2010 to 2013. A planning-stage budget of €3.15 million has been approved for this project.

I am disappointed the Taoiseach did not answer the questions I asked, one of which was whether the Minister would meet with the organisations that represent residents across the region. To have 12,000 people objecting is a serious matter. We live in a democracy and the very least the Minister could do is to meet them, particularly given that, as the Taoiseach said, the Minister is providing the huge capital moneys that will be necessary for this plant.

Deputies across the divide in this House have questioned the wisdom of the plant. In the Seanad, Senator Darragh O'Brien questioned the nature and viability of the project. He asked the Minister, Deputy Howlin, to re-evaluate the project because, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, he has oversight of all major capital works. There is no point in the Taoiseach saying the Government is not really involved in this or saying, "All we are doing is allocating €500 million, and that is all we have to do with it." It is a very serious capital allocation for a plant that is a secondary treatment plant only and will not provide tertiary treatment, which I consider incredible in this day and age in view of the need to treat effluent going into our harbours and bays.

First, I ask the Taoiseach to confirm that the Minister, Deputy Hogan, will meet with the residents concerned. Second, I ask that the Taoiseach follow through on what the Minister, Deputy Howlin, said, namely:

I was previously Minister in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. There is a propensity for engineers to have big schemes. They much prefer to build reservoirs than fix leaks. There is nothing sexy about fixing a hole but construction of a multi-million euro dam and piping water for miles is a big event. I prefer to fix the leaks. I have given the Senator an undertaking that I will have the matter investigated.

The matter has not been investigated by anyone in government. Will the Taoiseach give an undertaking to ensure that the promise and commitment made by the Minister to Senator Darragh O'Brien - and, by extension, to the people of the Fingal area - will be followed through on, and that he will have the entire wisdom of this project re-evaluated and investigated? The Minister said it twice to Senator O'Brien in his reply on that occasion.

They cannot keep a commitment.

As Deputy Martin is aware, I do not speak here for any particular Minister.

The Taoiseach speaks for the Government.

If the Minister, Deputy Hogan, were to sit down with any of the groups representing the 12,000 residents the Deputy mentioned, all he could say to them would be that his statutory function, if this project comes through the planning process, is to find money within his capital programme to make it happen. All the Minister could do in that regard would be to reiterate what are his functions.

From long experience in this House, the Deputy is well aware that the reason we have a statutory process through the local authority and its functions and An Bord Pleanála is to have no interference with the planning process. The Deputy can be quite sure that if the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government of the day were to put his or her foot in this space, the wrong perception would be given.

An extensive investigation has already been carried out. Nine locations were identified as having the potential to deal with this. Three were assessed as being preferred options and of those three, the council informed council members yesterday that best impact from an ecological, technical and environmental perspective was the Clonshaugh location with an outfall pipe 6 km out beyond Baldoyle. This must go through An Bord Pleanála with an environmental impact assessment. This is completely independent of any Minister or any Government. In that regard, the process has been followed.

If this project goes through that process and becomes a reality, it is the function of the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to find the funds within the capital programme allocated to him to make it become a reality. The Deputy's request for the Minister to meet with groups carries no weight in that the Minister has no function here with the county council and An Bord Pleanála.

In the event of it going through an entirely independent planning process, both the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform set the ceilings on each Department. However, this must go through a completely independent planning process. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is quite correct in that it has been seriously investigated by the council, which identified nine potential sites. As I said in my reply, at each stage of that process, local consultations took place. If this comes through the independent planning process, the job of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is to provide the funding to make it happen.