THE Government's latest attempt to resolve the group water schemes controversy received a mixed response last night, as those concerned studied the detail of the £7.3 million package.
The National Federation of Group Water Schemes said the measures fell "very short of expectations", while Opposition politicians condemned it as electioneering and a costly surrender to a pressure group.
The federation welcomed the broad thrust of the proposals announced yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, but said an annual subvention of £14.85 million would be needed to achieve full equity between urban and rural dwellers.
Other demands relating to ownership, devolution and environmental concerns had not been addressed "in any meaningful way", the federation added.
"There will still be obvious inequity between public and private scheme users, simply because there are unlimited quantities available free of charge for public domestic users, while there will clearly be a very definite limit available to householders on private group schemes."
It described as "perhaps the greatest disappointment" Mr Howlin's refusal to reverse his earlier decision to devolve administration of the group schemes to local authorities. This decision has been a particular bone of contention among group scheme operators who frequently find themselves in conflict with local authorities.
"We are quite satisfied that the local authorities themselves are not happy with this approach of Minister Howl in, unless a new major source of funding accompanies the devolution," it said.
"The associated administration costs will seriously escalate if the massive upgrading of water quality is left in the hands of all 30-plus local authorities. Greater effectiveness and efficiencies can be achieved by leaving the capital grants programme in the DOE (Department of the Environment) office in Ballina."
The federation also said it was disappointed the Minister had "totally ignored" its call for greater powers for the Environmental Protection Agency in monitoring drinking water standards.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on the environment, Mr Noel Dempsey, predicted the package would cost £300 million over 10 years and said it smacked of electioneering. "I think it's another off-the-top-of-his-head reaction from the Minister," he said.
The Progressive Democrats TD for Galway West, Mr Bobby Molloy, said the measures would cost much more than those proposed by his own party. The controversy was caused by the abolition of water charges in urban areas, "which was done purely for a political purpose, to try and save Labour Party seats he said.
Mr Michael Slattery, deputy president of the Irish Farmers' Association, said the grants scheme fell far short of what was needed to achieve full "parity of treatment" with urban dwellers. He called on Mr Howlin to show how his funding package would address the "inequity" caused by the partial abolition of service charges.
The chairman of the ICMSA's farm services committee, Mr Maurice Harvey, gave the proposals a cautious welcome, but called for clarification of some issues.