Wexford County Council is rushing to catch up with the pace of development in Courtown, according to the county manager, Mr Seamus Dooley, who says, "We're coping as best as we can."

An £8 million sewerage scheme had been approved by the Department of the Environment and all the holiday homes built in the area would ultimately be linked to a new treatment plant in two to three years' time, he said.

Mr Dooley agreed that there were water shortages in Courtown, but he said elements of a new regional water supply scheme for the Gorey area were now being laid and this would help to relieve the problem.

"In an ideal world, we would have liked to put all of this in place before anything happened, but the resources simply weren't available at the time because nobody anticipated the level of development," he said.

When the area was designated under the 1996 tax incentive scheme for seaside resorts, Mr Dooley said, the council commissioned a study by the National Building Agency to provide a framework for development.

He agreed that this was not a local action area plan as such. The draft development plan for Courtown, currently being compiled by the council's planners, was "part of the normal process of review.

"Every application that came in was assessed by planners, but what we were left with was what the market applied for. They had to deal with whatever schemes came before them and that was mainly houses."

Mr Dooley said the council would have liked to have seen a wider range of development, such as hotels, restaurants and all-weather tourist facilities, but he believed it was inevitable these would follow.

He pointed out that the council itself was actively involved in promoting the proposed £4 million Waterworld complex in Courtown, which would provide an important facility to complement the housing.

The county manager also noted that the seaside resorts tax incentive scheme had already yielded a major refurbishment of Courtown's old dancehall, dating from the early 1950s. It is now the Beacon nightclub.

"I think the scheme is at a certain stage of development. The fact that we now have a residential core means that the commercial sector is already identifying opportunities to provide facilities and services."

The county manager said he could see further development in the Courtown area even after the tax incentives expire in December. "Give it three years and you'll see this yielding very positive results."

Mr Pat O'Donnell, a director of Gorey Courtown Forest Park Ltd, pointed out that its housing scheme had involved felling trees only in a commercial woodland formerly owned by Coillte Teoranta.

And because it had contributed substantially to raising local equity for Waterworld, it was the only housing scheme in the area which would be funding much-needed tourist amenities. Bord Failte aid is also sought.

As for the reliability of temporary sewage treatment facilities, such as biocycle plants, he said there was no reason to believe that these would not work: "You could almost drink what comes out of them."