James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to reflect on the tremendous progress that has been made in water services in Ireland and the ongoing efforts of the Government and Uisce Éireann in this area. I assure the House that securing a safe and reliable water supply is a top priority for the Government, as is securing water services to facilitate housing development in all parts of the country. It is worth reflecting on the fact that in the last ten years Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery for water services and infrastructure from €300 million in 2014 to roughly €1.3 billion in 2024. Last November, the then Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, approved Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan, SPF, 2025 to 2029. This plan, which is a statutory requirement under water services legislation, specifies the arrangements that Uisce Éireann proposes to make to meet the policy objectives of the Government’s water services policy statement. The plan sets out Uisce Éireann's multi-annual strategic funding requirement of €16.9 billion to 2029, comprised of a €10.3 billion investment in infrastructure and assets and €6.6 billion in operating costs. This represents an unprecedented level of funding in our water infrastructure. For 2025, the Exchequer will provide to Uisce Éireann just over €2.2 billion. In addition to this sustained support for Uisce Eireann, the provision of additional capital investment to support housing development in our towns and villages will be considered in the context of the national development plan, NDP, review which is to be completed in the first half of this year.

I would like to remind the House of the journey we have taken to get here. Irish Water, as it was then, was incorporated in July 2013 as a company under the Water Services Act 2013 responsible for bringing public water and wastewater services of the 31 local authorities together under one single national utility. In 2018, the Government announced that Irish Water would become a stand-alone, publicly owned, regulated utility. The Water Services (Amendment) Act 2022, provided for the legal separation of Uisce Éireann from the Ervia Group, and changed the name of the company from Irish Water to Uisce Éireann. With effect from 1 January 2023, Uisce Éireann is solely owned by two shareholders, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Government’s policy paper on water sector transformation, published in February 2021, sets the vision for water services based on the full integration of water services provided by 31 local authorities into one national authority, Uisce Éireann. The objective is to deliver a world-class public water services authority that meets customer needs, operates in line with best practice, represents value for money and facilitates economic development in urban and rural locations. Only a national authority, backed by strong Government investment in water infrastructure, will deliver the standard of water and wastewater networks and environmental management systems required by Irish citizens and consumers in the 21st century.

Moving the operation and control of water services from 31 local authorities to direct Uisce Éireann responsibility represents one of the largest public sector reform programmes in recent years, and certainly the largest affecting the local government sector. The impact of the structural changes has presented challenges and will continue to do so but my Department is committed to working with and supporting local authorities as they depart this key operational service. Uisce Éireann has ongoing supports in place for local authority staff who are considering transferring to it. These supports include information on training, benefits, work packages, structures and details on local issues. Those workers who choose not to voluntarily transfer to Uisce Éireann will remain in the direct employment of their current local authority, maintaining their current terms and conditions of employment. They may continue to work in water services, under the direction of Uisce Éireann, until 31 December 2026. Opportunities for those staff who do not seek to transfer to Uisce Éireann will be identified during the transition period to 2026. Local authorities will cease any involvement in the direct provision of water services to the public on and from 31 December 2026.

There are extensive corporate governance arrangements in place in relation to Uisce Éireann in accordance with the code of practice for governance of State bodies.

My Department maintains oversight of compliance with requirements relating to financial reporting and strategic planning, for example, alongside the obligations to report directly to me, as Minister, on major developments and compliance. The chair and CEO are also accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts with regard to the annual accounts, while Uisce Éireann is also subject to robust independent regulatory oversight. This includes economic regulation exercised by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and oversight of drinking water quality and wastewater discharges by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The regulatory framework being applied by the CRU mirrors the approach that is applied to other utilities in Ireland and, in many instances, internationally. The essential output of the regulatory process is a multi-annual limit on the revenue that can be recovered by Uisce Éireann over a five-year period together with associated performance and customer service targets. This regulatory model reflects best international practice in bringing the challenge to Uisce Éireann to serve the needs of society and our economy.

The CRU also has a role to protect customers by setting quality of service standards and ensuring customers are treated fairly. The Environmental Protection Agency, on the other hand, is responsible for the regulation of drinking water quality and environmental oversight of Uisce Éireann. It monitors compliance with the European Union standards with regard to drinking water and for wastewater discharges. Uisce Éireann achieves a high level of compliance with these requirements and is actively addressing instances where its performance is falling short. It must be acknowledged, however, that where a significant investment is required with regard to a treatment plant, be it for drinking water or wastewater, there is often a significant timeframe required for planning, procuring, constructing and commissioning the new infrastructure.

The Water Services Policy Statement 2024-2030 was published in February 2024 following its approval by Government. The publication of the statement is a statutory requirement under the Water Services Act. The policy statement sets out a series of high-level policy objectives across the three thematic areas of availability and reliability, safety and quality, and sustainability, which must be pursued when planning capital investment and framing current spending plans. The policy statement supports the promotion of water conservation and water resources management as an important element of water services policy that is to be reflected in strategic investment planning by Uisce Éireann. For the period of the policy statement, this will involve the prioritisation of multifaceted programmes around leak detection and repair, network improvements, public awareness campaigns and funding to fix customer-side leaks.

Every day, we currently lose approximately 37% of our treated water through leaks before it even reaches our taps. Leaks can be difficult to find because they happen in the vast and complex network of pipes below ground. Many of these pipes are now old and damaged and need to be repaired or replaced to improve our water quality and supply. Uisce Éireann is making progress. In 2018, the rate of leakage nationally was 46% and by the end of 2022, it was 37%. This is on track to achieve a national leakage rate of 25% and to save a further 200 million l of water daily by the end of 2030.

With a view to adding further drive to the conservation effort, a national water conservation working group will be established to advise me on a future strategy for water conservation and prioritisation of resources during periods of water stress. My Department is currently drafting the terms of reference for that working group.

The Government is committed to promoting development in rural communities. The small towns and villages growth programme is a national programme that caters for growth in the smaller towns and villages with existing Uisce Éireann infrastructure. Through it, Uisce Éireann supports rural growth by investing in water services in areas that are identified and prioritised by local authorities in line with their county development plans. Uisce Éireann has consulted local authorities on their priority small towns and villages, which has resulted in an initial investment of more than €400 million. The programme for Government also commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. We will prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages. This additional funding will be considered as part of the national development plan, NDP, review which is due to be completed in the middle of the year.

As well as funding development of our towns and villages, the Government is also committed to supporting Uisce Éireann in the delivery of major national infrastructure. The water supply project for the eastern and midlands region, which was approved in principle by Government in June 2024, is a major strategic investment in drinking water infrastructure. The existing water sources and infrastructure for the eastern and midlands region do not have the capacity or resilience to meet the region’s future needs. Many water sources in the region will be at capacity by the late 2020s and will be unable to cater for new connections for residential and commercial developments.

The greater Dublin area is also over-reliant on a single source of water, with 85% of its water drawn down from the River Liffey. The water supply project for the eastern and midlands region is the first major new source water infrastructure in the region in the last 60 years. It will deliver a safe, secure and sustainable source of water supply necessary to support our growing population and economy, including the demand for housing. The project will abstract water from the lower River Shannon at the Parteen Basin downstream of Lough Derg in County Tipperary, with water treatment nearby at Birdhill. The treated water will be pumped 170 km through counties Tipperary, Offaly and Kildare to a reservoir at Peamount in County Dublin, connecting into the greater Dublin water network. It will deliver secure and sustainable water supplies for more than 2.5 million people across the eastern and midlands region, with an estimated budget of between €4.6 billion and €6 billion. This will create a treated water supply spine across the country, providing infrastructure with the capacity to serve communities along the route in counties Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath. In addition, it will enable supplies currently serving Dublin to be redirected back to counties Louth, Meath, Kildare, Carlow and Wicklow, providing security of supply to homes and businesses which will support growth and regional development.

On the wastewater side, the greater Dublin drainage project is critical to facilitate growth in the greater Dublin area. The new wastewater treatment plant will be situated in the southern fringes of Fingal, immediately outside the M50 motorway in County Dublin, and will serve the north-west quadrant of the existing Ringsend wastewater treatment catchment area. This will reduce the current pressure on the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant and release critical network capacity to Ringsend to support economic and residential development. The volume of wastewater generated in the greater Dublin area is projected to increase by more than 50% in the period to 2050. In the absence of this, the Ringsend plant will be at risk of operating beyond its design capacity.

What I have outlined here is just a snapshot of the work Uisce Éireann and the whole Government are undertaking to secure Ireland’s water services into the future. This work is happening every day in our cities, towns and rural communities. I commend all the staff in Uisce Éireann, our local authorities and the State agencies involved.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I will speak about the issue that flows through every aspect of our daily lives, that is, our water infrastructure. Water is not just a utility. It is a cornerstone of public health, economic growth, environmental protection and housing development. Yet, across our capital, in my constituency in Dún Laoghaire and in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, the very system we rely on is under growing strain as the Minister has alluded to.

Let us begin with the reality that 1.7 million people in the greater Dublin area currently depend on the River Liffey for approximately 85% of their water. This single-source dependency is unsustainable. It leaves us vulnerable to drought, contamination and population pressures. Uisce Éireann has rightly called this a lack of resilience. We simply do not have the supply capacity to meet the demands of our growing economy and housing needs. That is not a forecast; it is a fact. Now, to be clear, progress is being made. Between 2020 and 2024, Uisce Éireann invested more than €5 billion upgrading infrastructure nationwide. In 2023 alone, it completed works on 42 new or upgraded wastewater treatment plants and nine water treatment plants and laid hundreds of kilometres of new mains. The Government has backed this effort. For 2025, Uisce Éireann has received €2.2 billion in Exchequer funding, including €514 million in equity investment from budget 2025. A new strategic funding plan has been approved, with €16.9 billion being completed by 2029, of which €10.3 billion is for capital investment and €6.6 billion for operations. This is the largest investment ever in our water infrastructure. However, investment alone is not enough because demand is outpacing delivery.

Let us take housing, for instance. We have an ambitious Government programme targeted at increasing housing supply. All too often, however, developments are delayed, not just by planning objections but also by infrastructural constraints. We must remember that no pipes equal no homes. Statutory timelines for water connections are being introduced, which is very welcome. We need to go further, however, ensuring pre-planning co-ordination between developers, planners and Uisce Éireann on projects of 100 units or more. The small towns and villages growth programme must be expanded, particularly to unlock infill housing and social development in rural and coastal areas.

A second critical challenge is wastewater. As the Minister will be aware, Dublin Bay is a natural treasure. It is part of our tourism identity and environmental heritage. It has prided itself as being the biosphere for Dublin, and that is worked on across three local authorities in the capital. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has flagged persistent water quality issues linked to sewage overflows and outdated infrastructure. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, we are particularly sensitive to these issues. Bathing waters like Sandycove, Seapoint and the Forty Foot are regularly monitored, and occasionally closed, due to these overflows during storms.

The greater Dublin drainage, GDD, project, with its €1.2 billion budget, is designed to fix that. It will create a new regional wastewater treatment facility serving north Dublin, Meath and Kildare. The planning decision is now with An Bord Pleanála. We need that decision urgently. Every delay impacts water quality and public confidence.

What needs to happen? First, we need to complete and fund the eastern and midlands water supply project, WSP. This €4.6 billion to €6 billion project will source water from the Shannon river, as the Minister outlined, supplying 2.5 million people and freeing up Liffey water for surrounding counties. Second, we must prioritise investment in wastewater networks. Too many communities still discharge untreated water, which is unacceptable in 2025. We must bring all schemes and networks into compliance with EU law. Third, we must expedite the reform of An Bord Pleanála so that strategic infrastructure can be approved in a timely manner. Projects such as the WSP and GDD take five to ten years from design to completion. Certainty in planning is critical to cost control and delivery. Fourth, we must review the national development plan to ensure that capital investment matches our revised housing targets and not the other way around. We must also enhance collaboration. Uisce Éireann must continue working with public representatives, local authorities, public health professionals, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and communities to align infrastructure with actual growth, not just projections.

Let us not use this moment to assign blame or play party politics with water. The issue is too serious for that. We need to continue to build stronger pipes to allow for cleaner water and a future where Dublin Bay is swimmable, homes are buildable and taps flow freely from Sutton to Sandycove and beyond.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I will take the opportunity to congratulate Willie Mullins on his fantastic achievement. This is the first time I have spoken in the House since his incredible achievement in the Grand National last Saturday.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Did the Deputy get lucky?

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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His horses came first, second, third, fifth and seventh. It was huge. I know there was a fantastic celebration and homecoming last night in Closutton and Leighlinbridge. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as I was in Dublin. It is an achievement that needs to be acknowledged formally in the House. He is a fantastic ambassador and like me, has strong Kilkenny connections, being originally from Goresbridge. I acknowledge Willie Mullins, Patrick Mullins and the whole team for everything they have done. It is magnificent.

The programme for Government commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. In addition, the programme for Government states that the Government will prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages. I am sure that people across the House will agree that there is a significant issue in respect of the capacity of Irish Water and the investment, in particular, in small towns and villages. If they had the water infrastructure, it would enable small housing schemes to happen more quickly than has been the case.

I recently travelled around my constituency to places such as Mullinavat, Inistioge, Glenmore, Ballyhale, Paulstown, Kells, Kilmanagh and Piltown where the infrastructure is not there to help these towns and villages to grow and prosper. The former Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, created the small towns and villages scheme, which is good, but to date it has been slow in its delivery. For example, work may not start on Bennettsbridge, the number one priority in Kilkenny, until 2029. That, in turn, means that all the other towns and villages that are further down the priority list, including the likes of Fiddown, Glenmore, Windgap, Dungarvan and the The Rower, may face even longer delays in the delivery of this vital water infrastructure. Where water infrastructure has reached its limit, new housing development stalls, forcing locals to relocate, which is not what I want. That creates a ripple effect on all our schools, shops and GAA clubs as families move and demographics shift, which is a hammer blow to rural Ireland.

The Government has made a commitment to increase the level of capital investment in Irish Water for the next while, which I welcome. It is, however, imperative that the investment is tied to new supply so we can enable housing and infrastructure development around the entire country and, in particular, in towns and villages across my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. We must also look at the regulatory framework to get a proper balance between EPA compliance, new development and new wastewater treatment plants in areas to facilitate more housing and get those numbers up, which we all want.

As the Minister knows, housing is the number one social issue and crisis facing this country at the moment. Enabling infrastructure such as water and wastewater would enable us to get more houses built quicker and evenly across the country. We could get an awful lot more done if the infrastructure was there. While it is important that we get the increase to a record level of investment, the delivery of that investment is more important. That is crucial and that is where the challenge is. Uisce Éireann must be able to do this on time and with a sense of urgency and relentlessness we have not seen before.

In the past ten years, we have ramped up capital delivery capability for water services. In 2014, €300 million was available. In 2024, the relevant figure was €1.3 billion. I acknowledge there has been a significant increase in investment and record funding was allocated between 2020 and 2024. That investment will continue under the new strategic funding plan. However, there is much more to do. The Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvement to our public water and wastewater services. However, given the legacy of underinvestment in water services infrastructure in Ireland, the scale of remedial work necessary in our water and wastewater systems will take a number of years and a number of investment cycles to fully resolve. We must take action now.

I note the Government has acknowledged and recognises that our wastewater networks require ongoing and sustained investment to bring them to the required standard of treatment, to deal with population growth and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Significant investment in wastewater infrastructure continues and is provided for in the 2025-29 strategic funding plan. I am most interested to hear that further funding will be considered as part of the NDP review due to be completed this year. I encourage and implore the Minister to get additional funding to ensure that small villages and town schemes, in particular, are completed as soon as possible.

We need to support Uisce Éireann in the delivery of its key strategic projects in our cities and regions. Security of water supply is critical to delivering our national housing and economic priorities. We need to introduce statutory timelines for preconnections and water, wastewater and energy connection agreements to ensure that large developments can proceed without the delays they are experiencing at the moment. We need to establish a new procedure for large developments of more than 100 units whereby a developer can meet local authority planners and Uisce Éireann onsite to iron out any issues at the preplanning stage. We need to invest additional capital funding in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. We must prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing developments in our towns and villages. We want that development of towns and villages spread evenly across the counties.

We need to ensure that Uisce Éireann prioritises delivery of the small towns and villages programme. As I mentioned earlier, 15 wastewater projects are required in Kilkenny and the first project will not be under way until 2029, which leaves the other 14 vulnerable in terms of how quickly we can get them over the line. We need to ensure that Uisce Éireann expedites and expands the small towns and villages growth programme to deliver wastewater services to rural towns and villages.

As the Minister knows, Uisce Éireann is responsible for the delivery of secure, safe and sustainable public water services that will enable the Irish economy to grow and communities across Ireland to thrive. From 2020 to 2024, Uisce Éireann invested over €5 billion to upgrade and improve water and wastewater services infrastructure across the country to improve the quality of life of the people of Ireland, to protect our environment and to grow our economy. In my constituency, Kilkenny city has received fantastic investment of €33 million for the upgrade of the infrastructure in Troyswood water treatment plant. That is future proofed and is only at two thirds capacity at the moment. Kilkenny city has the capacity to grow and add an additional 20,000 businesses and homes under the current plan. That is fantastic. The infrastructure is there and we need to roll it out, in particular, to smaller towns and villages around the country.

We are now in a situation whereby some of the towns in Carlow and Kilkenny have the capacity to grow. They are growing at a fantastic rate and will well exceed their targets under the national planning framework. The challenge we have is that other towns do not have a hope of reaching their targets because the infrastructure is not there. We need to get the infrastructure in place to allow these smaller towns and villages, such as Graiguenamanagh, where I am from, which are the heartbeat of rural Ireland and rural communities, to grow and prosper and to get the best out of themselves. It is absolutely crucial.

We have project in Paulstown and Gowran at the moment which is currently under construction. That will make a huge difference when it is completed in terms of enabling capacity there.

Public water underpins all of the basic needs of an open, thriving and global competitive Ireland. There is much for us to do to modernise our water infrastructure. Infrastructure is expensive and containing costs relies on certainty, consistency and efficiency. Bringing stability to the planning system by progressing and enacting legislative amendments, finalising the reform of An Bord Pleanála and enabling it to make timely, impactful decisions around strategic priority projects, are absolutely essential to constant, cost efficient and structured development. There are welcome steps being taken to address some of the issues that exist within our planning system but we need to do more.

Finally, continuing to grow investment in water service infrastructure is absolutely essential to keep up with and adapt to change and to ensure Ireland meets its economic, social and environmental obligations. I am a passionate rural person from a small place called Skeaghvasteen in the parish of Graiguenamanagh. The biggest challenge I see at the moment is that we have certain towns and villages in Kilkenny and Carlow that have the capacity to develop and grow way above what their communities can absorb. We have other towns and villages which are absolutely hamstrung and choked and there is no development. That is massive issue for us for schools, GAA clubs, shops and pubs. It is absolutely strangling them and we need to do more to help those small rural towns and villages right across the country.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Water is a fundamental human right. It is vital for our families, our communities and public health but also for the well-being of society, our economy and, indeed, our environment. It has been our long-held view that the best way to deliver water and wastewater services is through a public service model where water and wastewater is provided on the basis of need and not ability to pay.

Of course, water is not free. People pay for it either through general taxation or through commercial water rates. It is important to note that because of the way in which we fund water services, we are unique in the OECD in having zero levels of water poverty in our society. Notwithstanding the challenges I will address, that is something we should be very proud of.

Uisce Éireann is dealing with some significant challenges and we need to be honest about what those are. Some of them are legacy issues such as the chronic underfunding of water services for decades, a history of fragmented management and delivery, controversy arising from a previous governments' attempts to introduce domestic water charges, the commercial nature of the utility and the previous threats of privatisation. Much of that colours the debate we have today and we need to be honest about it. My strong view is that the focus of our debate should be the future of water and wastewater services. For that we have to have a very honest assessment of where we are.

The Minister said there has been incredible progress in recent years. Unfortunately, some of the senior figures in Uisce Éireann do not agree with him. Only a matter of weeks ago, Jerry Grant, whom I am sure the Minister knows, and who is the chair of the board of Uisce Éireann and its former chief executive, and is one of the country's leading water service professionals with decades of experience in the public and private sectors, said that our water system was in a "desperate state". He said that this was because of extraordinary complacency and passive indifference around investment in infrastructure. He called for a new approach from Government. His comments need to be listened to and considered.

The debate here and our future engagement at the Oireachtas committee needs to focus on the most important question which is: how do we deliver world-class drinking water and wastewater services through a transparent and democratically accountable model of public service that meets the needs of society, the economy and the environment? In that context I welcome today's debate and I will set out views on a number of matters.

The first is, and it is important to acknowledge, that many of our colleagues, the Minister's backbenchers and mine, as well as councillors, often complain that the communication flow with Uisce Éireann needs to be improved. In addition to Uisce Éireann improving its own engagement, we need to look at the possibility of a change to legislation to create a statutory forum in every local authority for Uisce Éireann to come in and to be held accountable by local councillors on matters of local interest. That would greatly improve that information flow. My experience of Uisce Éireann, the chief executive and senior officials, as a lead spokesperson, is very positive but many of my colleagues at local and regional levels often do not find the same quality of information flow. That is something I want to name as a constructive criticism for the utility to address.

On the issue of capacity, again Jerry Grant made a very important distinction that the capital programme, which Uisce Éireann is currently finishing, was dealing with compliance and with getting our water system up to the standard it should have been at for long periods of time. It was not, however, about increasing capacity. That is the challenge we now have with its new plan and the new national planning framework, NPF. Uisce Éireann has made very clear that it needs something in the region of €2 billion of additional capital above and beyond what had been allocated previously to meet those challenges. It needs €1.7 billion to upgrade water and wastewater treatment in the 48 priority areas to try to meet that target, albeit too low in my view, outlined in the revised national planning framework, NPF, document of 300,000 new homes over the next period of time. It said it needs another €300 million to upgrade water wastewater treatment in those rural areas of populations below 1,000 people.

It is important for clarity and for honesty in the debate for the Government to set out very clearly when we are dealing with the NPF discussions on 30 April what its response is. How much of that ask from Uisce Éireann will the Government provide and over what period of time? There is no point in Government backbenchers coming in here over the next five years and complaining about the lack of funding for individual water and wastewater treatment plants if the Government has not provided money for them and has not ensured that they are in the capital programme. Everything cannot be funded, which I accept, but we need honesty in respect of all of these issues.

On planning, work still needs to be done in this area. First of all, this means, acknowledging that underlying critical infrastructure, and water is one of those, should be prioritised within our planning process. It is something we argued for during the passage of the Planning and Development Bill but utilities are not included in that Bill as a specified category. We need more staff for An Bord Pleanála. It is about 30 staff shy of the increased sanction that the Minister's predecessor provided. It will need an additional 50 staff beyond that. We also need more judges - at least three - in the planning and environmental panel of the High Court and to put the practice guidelines of the courts on a statutory basis so that there are timelines for judicial review, JR, decisions.

The greater Dublin drainage project has been in planning for seven years. I know the Minister is not responsible for this because he has just taken over but it was remitted back to the board three years ago, in the summer of 2021. Again, my point is not to criticise the board but it is a lack of resourcing and of statutory timelines which are the underlying problem and they need to be addressed.

I know the eastern and midlands water supply project is a very controversial one and it has a long history but Sinn Féin fully accepts the need for Dublin city and the wider greater Dublin area to diversify its water sources. That is an argument we accept. We are not opposed to this project in principle and we have taken the position all the way through. We have legitimate concerns which we have raised with Uisce Éireann and the Minister's predecessor and I will raise them here again today.

The first is continued and deeper engagement with elected representatives, communities, business and environmental interests as that project rolls out. It would not be acceptable for water to be pumped from one side of the country to the other and for a very large portion of that water to be lost in the distribution system because of leakage. We need to get the Dublin, in particular the Dublin city leakage rates, down to the internationally accepted norm of at least 20%. Dublin city is currently at 50% and, therefore, there needs to be greater work on that.

There is genuine concern among the public about the ability of the State to manage in a transparent and accountable manner such a large capital project. We need the maximum level of transparency and accountability to ensure this is done in the public interest. Our role will be to scrutinise and to hold the Government and Uisce Éireann to account on all of those matters.

There is a range of other issues, which I will not have the opportunity to go into in detail today, but I will flag some of them in the couple of minutes of speaking time I have left before I cede to my colleagues. With respect to the completion of the single utility, it is important that there continues to be some footprint within our local authorities, even if the staff are employed by Uisce Éireann. That connection with the local authorities for the public but also between the planning authorities and our public housing authorities is vital. Having those colocated has real merit and I would ask the Minister to pursue that matter.

The role of the utilities regulator, particularly in the blocking of what it believes is so-called speculative development, is causing a problem for residential supply.

I know Uisce Éireann has made suggestions about non-regulated funding. I have talked about the use, for example, of a housing infrastructure services company to get in and resolve those problems without in any way undermining the independence of the regulator. That has to be addressed because it is crucial.

Likewise, I do not think preplanning should just be for developments of over 100 units. For all of those other counties across the State where residential developers are doing developments of 20, 50 and 80 units, we need a much more structured and statutory-based preplanning process that does not just involve the local authority sections but also the utilities. Again, we have tabled amendments to the planning Bill on that but the Government would not accept them. Those issues need to be taken into account.

The taking in charge of group schemes is still too slow and the funding is inadequate. Ultimately, that is on the Government, not Uisce Éireann. So too is addressing the regular and important reports by the Environmental Protection Agency on water quality, and also the continued EU infringement actions for our failure to meet aspects of the urban wastewater treatment directive. There has been some progress but much more needs to be done.

Colleagues of the Minister mentioned connection delays, which are not always caused by the utilities but sometimes by builders or third parties. More work needs to happen on that.

With regard to the legacy issues of developer-owned infrastructure, my colleague from Donegal is dealing with this regularly. We still have some 600 residential developments built with pre-Celtic Tiger era planning permission wastewater treatment plants. There is no funding certainty for bringing those into active public ownership and we need to address that.

There is a final issue for the Minister that is not in the programme for Government. I urge him to consider the value of holding a referendum to enshrine public ownership of our water system in the Constitution. That would go an enormously long way to reassuring water services workers and the wider public that there is no intention of this Government or future Governments to privatise what is fundamentally a public service of the highest order and a fundamental human right, and one on which far greater work needs to be done by the Government with far greater levels of investment to meet the needs of communities as set out by the Minister in his opening remarks.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Our spokesperson, Deputy Ó Broin, has laid out the national picture and the challenges we face. I am going to take this opportunity to speak about the experience on the ground in Donegal and offer some constructive criticism of Uisce Éireann but also address some challenges for the Government. I will start with our major town, Letterkenny. We want to develop Letterkenny into a city. We want to join Letterkenny with Derry and Strabane - we already talk about the north-west city region - and to attract all the investment and infrastructure that comes with that. The development of Letterkenny is crucial to that vision. There is no doubt that Uisce Éireann, given the lack of resourcing from Government, is a huge barrier to doing that.

I am sure that senior management in Uisce Éireann will be listening to or watching back on this debate. I ask them to understand that they need to work in partnership with Donegal County Council and local public representatives, and also with developers. They have a vision and a plan, but it will be orderly, sustainable and part of a planned approach. There is a huge frustration with Uisce Éireann. Of course, that is because it is not resourced properly or structured properly to facilitate that level of vision being operational. There is a lack of joined-up thinking.

I also want to talk about the Inishowen peninsula. At the heart of the Inishowen peninsula is the Eddie Fullerton dam, which is named after my late, great colleague, Councillor Eddie Fullerton. That was his vision. It is a massive water supply. It was resourced because it would supply water not just to Inishowen but, at the time, to the Laggan desert, as it was called, in east Donegal, and to Letterkenny. That is happening. However, it is unacceptable that communities in Clonmany, Carndonagh and north Inishowen do not have the proper water infrastructure. Right now, housing developments are being turned down in places like Carndonagh and Moville because of the water and wastewater deficits. Particularly when we have the Eddie Fullerton dam, it is not acceptable that this would happen.

I am asking that Uisce Éireann would have a direct representative for people to speak to in every county, and in somewhere like Donegal there should be two. There should be someone people can speak to if their water pipes burst or there are ongoing problems. We should not have to send emails. We should not be treated like it is a corporate structure that is at arm’s length. This is a crucial public body. I urge that the level of accountability and the culture changes, and changes very quickly.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I want to raise the issue of communication between Irish Water and elected representatives. I will read a statement outlining the situation of a constituent who contacted me last week. I was contacted by a resident of Ballyhooly in east Cork. This resident has a serious autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that makes proper hygiene essential for her. However, due to the ongoing water supply issue in the area, she cannot even wash a cup and is forced to spend 45 minutes a day filling a bath with kettles of water so she can clean herself. Her condition is getting worse and she has a scheduled procedure set for Saturday. She is genuinely worried. Preparing for and recovering from this procedure requires access to a working toilet and the ability to clean up after herself, whereas she cannot even flush her toilet, wash her hands or even maintain basic hygiene. To make matters worse, she has no access to heating or hot water as the gas system does not function without sufficient water pressure.

She has personally contacted Uisce Éireann over 30 times about this but it has failed to take any action. It is a major crisis for this person. It is a health issue and a human rights issue. In my opinion, she has been blatantly ignored by Irish Water. Trying to contact these people is an unbelievable challenge.

The Minister might not be familiar with Ballyhooly but its national school’s water has constantly been cut off. When this happens, children in the school have no toilets and no way of washing their hands and the school has no way of putting out a fire, should one occur. Many of the houses in the village are home to young families. Children are often unable to be bathed by their parents because there is no water. Cooking cannot be done, clothes cannot be washed and showers cannot be taken. It is mad. Residents, families and businesses are affected by this ongoing water disruption.

I understand that Irish Water is legally required to maintain a minimal one bar of pressure, which equates to about 10 l per minute, but Ballyhooly is lucky to get half of that on a good day. I have been working with the residents and community groups there. I have been advised that the only solution to the water supply issue in Ballyhooly is to replace the water mains between the reservoir and the village because it is completely blocked due to corrosion. Last November, Cork County Council wrote to Uisce Éireann asking for the water mains pipe to be upgraded but Uisce Éireann replied that no capital work would be carried out. That is Ballyhooly goosed. It is unacceptable that Uisce Éireann would refuse to carry out work and it leaves Ballyhooly and all of its residents bitterly disappointed.

While we are at it, I want to mention that Whitegate is nine years into a boil water notice and it has over 10,000 people. They are being treated appallingly. It has got so bad that when people have a shower, it is like they have measles. I wanted to flag those issues with the Minister because communication is at a zero point.

Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East, Sinn Fein)
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Uisce Éireann has to become more accountable to the public it serves. A constituent of mine, an old-age pensioner, is owed money by Uisce Éireann since last November, when she paid Dyno-Rod, a private company, to clear an urgent problem that was the responsibility of Uisce Éireann because she could not wait for it to act. The cost was €190, a substantial amount of money, particularly for an old age pensioner struggling to pay her bills, and it was taken from the savings she had built up for Christmas. The woman was so frustrated with Uisce Éireann's lack of response that she contacted me to try to get the matter resolved. I contacted it on her behalf and it promised that a response would be provided within ten days. I got the response and the refund was approved in writing by Uisce Éireann to my office on 19 March. I got in touch with the constituent. She was delighted and was looking forward to receiving her money but up to today, she still has not been reimbursed. I had to get back on to Uisce Éireann in another attempt to get it to repay the money. This is no way to do business. It is unacceptable.

Another important issue in my constituency is the water treatment plant in Swords, which was upgraded a couple of years ago. It was a very welcome development as it had been a source of ongoing issues for residents. Unfortunately, in recent months, foul odours have again been coming from the plant. This has impacted greatly on local residents and the Fingallians GAA club.

The club is right beside the treatment plant. When games and training sessions take place the coaches, parents and players are all affected by the smells coming from the plant. My colleague, Councillor John Smyth, asked Fingal County Council to request a report from Uisce Éireann, which it did. Months later, we are still waiting on the report.

There are many other examples of Uisce Éireann neglecting to deal with upgrades, for example, to the pumping station at Knocksedan in Swords where raw sewage was spilling into the estate and the Delvin river in the Naul, which is polluted. It is all due to lack of capacity.

I am aware that investment has been promised but our estuaries and waters need protection from pollution now. Will the Minister of State get a timeframe from Uisce Éireann for when it will deal with the major issues relating to water affecting residents in Dublin Fingal East?

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I sat in this Chamber last night and watched the Minister of State's colleagues in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and those in the Lowry Independents group vote against a Sinn Féin Bill that would have permanently banned water charges. In my few short months in this House I have seen Minister after Minister duck questions about a referendum on the public ownership of water. Water must be protected as a public good in our Constitution.

The crisis in our water services is not just a national scandal, it is a daily reality for families and businesses across Waterford. Uisce Éireann's failures are a direct result of the neglect, underfunding and refusal to take accountability by this Government and its predecessors, especially in rural towns and rural areas.

We see it in my constituency in Lismore, with its outdated and crumbling water supply, and in Bunmahon's inadequate sewerage system. I could give the Minister of State a litany of similar failures across Waterford. I imagine colleagues across this House could do the same for their own constituencies.

Homes, businesses and schools are frequently left without water with no notice. Water quality is often impacted. Sewerage systems are gone far beyond capacity. House building is being delayed in towns, villages and rural areas in the State. In Waterford, we have seen boil water notices, ageing infrastructure, and treatment plants operating beyond what they can manage.

Families cannot trust what comes out of their taps. The Government claims it supports investment but the truth is stark: Uisce Éireann does not have the capital funding needed to fix these problems. It has begged for more resources, but the Government refuses to commit. Meanwhile, planning delays caused by chronic understaffing are holding up vital projects. This is not incompetence, it is a choice.

Let us be clear: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have still not abandoned their obsession with water charges. That is why we need a referendum to finally take water services out of private hands and keep them in public ownership. We must ensure there is proper funding for Uisce Éireann to end capacity constraints. We must invest more in infrastructure.

This is the Government's chance. We must have a statutory requirement for transparency, including regular reporting to councils and the Oireachtas. I say this as a public representative who has experience here in this Chamber and as a councillor. The level of engagement and democratic oversight is simply not there with Uisce Éireann.

We need to see an end to planning bottlenecks and the proper resourcing of An Bord Pleanála and Uisce Éireann. We also need to hold the referendum and, as part of this debate, I ask the Minister of State to commit to that. The Government has left Uisce Éireann underresourced, unaccountable and unable to deliver.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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A considerable amount has already been said about how vital water is. That goes without saying. It is not difficult to make such an argument. A fair amount has been said, especially recently, when we have seen flyers from the other side about the return of water charges.

A public service model is all that will be acceptable to the Irish people, so we just need to make sure we get to that point. There can be no possibility of privatisation or water charges. That is utterly unacceptable. That ship has sailed, or at least it should have. I hope the Government now realises that.

The one point made across the lobby that I would agree with relates to the legacy of underinvestment. I do not think anyone will disagree with that because we are all dealing with those issues on a daily basis. The legacy of underinvestment is due to an insufficient amount of assessment and then follow-up in the sense of putting our money where our mouth is. There is an absolute necessity for that.

We know the impact it is having on residential building as well as on existing houses in towns like Dundalk where I live. As well as impacting on future residential developments, there will be an impact on industrial units. Large industrial units in my town have had to develop their own capacity and water infrastructure. I dread to think what that means for the future.

Louth County Council recently engaged with Uisce Éireann on the issue. We have also had a huge issue where I live in Dundalk south, as it is known, with our wastewater system. We do not have adequate capacity. Recently, an Bord Pleanála refused to give permission for a development of 500 houses on the basis of the insufficient capacity. As the Minister of State is aware, in the Haggardstown area, temporary initial water treatment systems are being installed. Residents are opposed to this. It is a significant issue in the sense that it could lead to added costs for housing if developers have to pay for such systems. These are issues that need to be addressed. I ask the Minister of State to address them.

We had flooding issues in the Cooley Peninsula at the end of 2023. Parts of Dundalk were almost flooded because of the inability to get rid of wastewater. This is an issue that requires to be addressed. I have raised the issue here previously in regard to Hackballscross during Storm Éowyn. It took days and weeks to deal with the issue. It always happens when the electricity is cut off that there is a logjam in the system and that must be addressed.

I have spoken many times about the brown water in Dundalk, which relates to manganese. There is a pilot scheme, and I am told there has been progress in terms of finding a solution.

Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Murchú.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I was told initial protection would be provided in 2026. We must make sure that happens. We must also ensure that communication takes place.

Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Murchú.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I also want to bring a particular issue to the attention of the Minister of State about the waiver system where someone made an application and I believe there are mitigating circumstances.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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All politics is local.

Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Next is Deputy Wall, who is sharing time with Deputies Eoghan Kenny and Lawlor.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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All politics is indeed local. Not a week goes by without me using the Oireachtas line to make inquiries on behalf of the constituents I represent in Kildare South. Increasingly, the responses from that line have become much more frustrating. I am not sure where we are going with this particular utility, who is in charge and where the funding will come from. That is the first response to constituents or to me when I ring. The issue of funding is what is thrown at them first when they seek answers.

I welcome the statements, but as colleagues in the House have outlined – and will continue to outline during this debate - our jobs as public representatives in dealing with these queries is getting much more difficult, and has become very frustrating. I put on the record that the staff I deal with on the ground could not be more helpful to me in the course of my work, but they too are getting more frustrated each day as they tell me they cannot help with simple investigations, and that they must be listed through the rep system before they can even deal with them.

An example of what is happening on the ground relates to a local town, Castledermot. Last year, over a bank holiday weekend there was a sewage leak in an estate. Although it was a beautiful weekend, parents could not let their children out to play as paths, roads and green areas were covered in raw sewage. The local staff informed me that their hands were tied, the estate was not in charge and I would have to wait until Tuesday of the following before something could be done. I previously raised in the Upper House the issue of the urgent need for an emergency number at weekends and the flexibility of staff to respond to an emergency. It is simply not good enough that this estate was effectively closed down on a bank holiday weekend.

I want to return to estates not being taken in charge. If there was an all-Ireland prize for pass the parcel, Uisce Éireann would be the clear winner, and also the defending champion.

In my home town of Athy, in one estate raw sewage has flowed into homes on a number of occasions, and unfortunately into a neighbouring estate as well. I began working with the residents, the council, the developer and Uisce Éireann.

3 o’clock

I was progressing it with the council and Uisce Éireann and a number of meetings took place onsite. A plan was progressing. How it would be funded was always mentioned. To my dismay, when I received my tenth update from the reps desk this week, I was hit with the old chestnut that this estate was not in charge and that there was no more that Uisce Eireann could do with it. I would love to know what happened to the plan I was told a month ago was progressing. This is something I am sure the residents will not be happy about and I fear having to go back to tell them about this.

I am also aware of at least four, if not five, estates in Kildare South where, on a weekly basis, private tankers are tankering water from inadequate or broken down sewerage systems. I wonder how much is this costing the State. Much of this tankering has now been in place for at least ten years. I would love to know the plans for these estates, including Allen Court, Timolin, Moone, Kilmead as well as one or two others.

I took a call yesterday from the residents of Ballymany Manor in Newbridge, County Kildare. I was informed that residents in this estate are living without running water for at least 12 hours per day, and always during daylight hours when the water is needed most. I contacted the reps desk this morning about the stories I heard yesterday. Young families with newborn babies were not able to wash them and young children returning from sports activities were not able to take a shower. The residents have been told their system needs a new motor, which they been told has been approved. They have also been told there is no date as to when this might happen.

We hear from the Government that it will invest in water and wastewater systems. Obviously, we in the Labour Party have stated before that we believe some of the Apple tax windfall needs to be used to bring these estates and systems back up to a proper working state. Having listened to previous speakers, it is true that the lack of investment will halt, and is halting, and affecting housing during the housing emergency we have. However, there is a huge problem in this State with Celtic tiger-built homes, in particular my county of Kildare, and those living with smells, dirty water and a lack of proper water. They deserve more than an acknowledgement and a nod. It is simply not good enough in this day and age that they are living in such conditions. I ask the Minister of State to come back me on the issues I raised and I look forward to listening to his response to them.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I appreciate Uisce Éireann is not in the Minister of State's portfolio, but where do we start with Irish Water. My county of Cork has had its fair share of dealings with Irish Water. The quality of our water and the response of Irish Water to the problems we have in Cork are utterly shameful. On Monday last, my Labour Party colleagues on Cork City Council met officials from Irish Water. To say that their questions remain unanswered is an understatement. Most of the time, the answers received from Irish Water lack any detail or substance. I will use one example.

My colleague, Councillor Peter Horgan, asked Irish Water about the water pumping stations within the city limits and the cost of maintaining them. The answer he received was lacking in any sort of detail that he could explain to his constituents. No costings, no details and no explanation were given. When a constituent makes contact with me or my office about an issue with Irish Water, there is a dedicated telephone line to contact. We explain the issue and receive a reference number and after that, there is nothing. There is no follow-up or direct answer and nothing for us to go back to the constituent with. Constituents are often told by Irish Water to contact the local authority, whether that is the city council or the county council. When constituents make contact with the local authority, they are told to go back to Irish Water with their issue. There is no inter-communication and, more importantly, no accountability. Nobody is taking the blame for the issues we have. People are genuinely at their wits' end when it comes to water supply.

I will move on to the quality of water in Cork. Three friends of mine live on the Lee Road in Cork. They wake up in the morning not knowing whether or not they will have the opportunity to take a shower or to drink water from the tap. That is just unbelievable. People refer to the "discolouration" of water in Cork but it is dirty water. It is so bad that people are continually buying bottled water to use instead of drinking water.

A father of two children contacted me. He told me:

As a father of two young boys aged four and one, I am in complete fear of what this water may doing to my children if consumed. For years, my family has been forced to buy bottled water at a cost of €25 to €30 per week amounting to €100 to €120 per month, an additional financial burden in an already difficult economic climate.

I have great sympathy for him and his family. We should not be in the situation where families are forced to buy bottled water.

We constantly receive emails from Irish Water about the flushing system. This is a short-term solution to a very much long-term issue. Residents are being told to run their taps until they see the water is clear. That is what is happening in Cork right now. This is disgraceful; it is shameful.

I was born and bred in Mallow. It is my home town. I know what it is like to be on a hard water supply in Mallow. In the estate I have lived in all of my life, Castlepark, we have a hard water supply. I live at home with my grandmother and the number of washing machines, kettles and shower heads we go through is just stark. It is unbelievable. When constituents ask about it, the answer we give them is to put in a water softener. I ask the Minister of State and this Government to put a water softener in place at source. If that was done, it would not fall to every household to put in a water softener. The Minister of State knows as well as I do that water softeners are not cheap, so if every household is being asked to put in a water softener it just is not possible.

I will ask the Minister of State and Government for a number of things. We need to see long-term measures put in place, including the replacement of pipes in all areas of Cork city and not a piecemeal approach to their replacement. I ask the Minister of State to explain to Irish Water that when a public representative asks genuine questions, the answers they should be given should be substantial, concrete and have substance. Public representatives should be able to go back to their constituents with answers to their issues.

I also ask the Minister of State about the possibility of creating a digital platform where residents in different communities in different areas can log complaints in their area which would provide a clearer picture for Irish Water instead of people wasting time on the telephone and receiving reference numbers but receiving no solutions or answers. A digital platform makes sense.

Importantly, as we are a party of workers, I highlight the fact this is not about Irish Water workers - the men and women on the ground who are doing the work. I have genuine sympathy for them carrying out their work on a daily basis and more than likely moving to different locations as complaints come in. They have no definite duty on a day-to-day basis. The Minister of State and I know this is wrong and needs to be rectified. We need to work collectively across the House to rectify these issues.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Before I call Deputy Lawlor, who is a Wexford man, I welcome a school from Ballymitty. Deputies Lawlor and Malcolm Byrne happen to be in the Chamber. The students from Ballymitty national school are here along with the principal, Ms Audrey McCarthy, and Ms Foley, Ms Bohanna and Ms Fitzharris, who are teachers there. As a primary school, they were on an Erasmus programme in Sweden recently. They are off to Tarragona in Spain very soon. Well done to all.

George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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I concur with the Ceann Comhairle's words and congratulate Ballymitty national school on its great success and welcome them to the Public Gallery.

When we talk about Irish Water-Uisce Éireann the words "chaos" and "chaotic" often spring to mind. Despite the billions of euro in resources we have had in this country for quite some time, during the past number of years in particular, time and again we see failures of systems.

I am disappointed the Minister, Deputy Browne, had to leave the Chamber but last September I, along with the Minister, Deputy Browne, attended the unveiling of new reservoir tanks in Kilmallock Bridge water treatment plant in Ballymurn in County Wexford. It serves approximately 8,000 customers and the new tanks were to guarantee supply. Unfortunately, since the tanks were installed, we have seen 14 separate outages where Uisce Éireann customers have suffered greatly. The reason for the outages is that while there was investment in the reservoir tanks, there was no investment in the plant, so every time the plant broke down, the problems reoccurred. Since last September, on 14 separate occasions, we have seen serious issues.

This week Whiterock Hill in Wexford town, an area where there are more than 1,000 homes, suffered yet another outage of water. It is the eighth outage so far this year in Whiterock Hill in Wexford town.

The local crèche, Bumblebees, had to close its doors and 42 families were left without childcare, just a knock-on impact of what it means to lose water in our communities, homes and businesses. Every time it happens and the residents report it, all they are given is a reference number and little or no explanation. They are left to their own devices to try to manage without water in their area.

The water that is supplied to them in the first place comes from Mayglass water treatment plant where the water is described as being off the scale when it comes to lime content. Just as my colleague described what is happening in Mallow, the hard water is destroying the appliances in the homes of the 10,000 customers who receive water from this water treatment plant. Kettles, showers and washing machines are being destroyed almost on an annual basis as they seek to battle against the hard water.

I recently came across the case of a house in the heart of Wexford town on Newtown Road - the Ceann Comhairle will be familiar with the area - where a one-off house was built and the connection fee from Irish Water was €33,000. That was the amount that was demanded and had to be given to Irish Water to connect to this one-off house a few hundred yards from the heart of Wexford town to connect to the main water supply. Absolutely no cognisance was taken of how many other people could connect with this. The original person getting the connection was charged the full whack of €33,000, a young family building a home for themselves.

The service level agreement with councils is about to come to an end and already Irish Water is abandoning many of the services that the councils would have provided back in the day. For instance, sewerage problems that occur in backyards are now being left to the homeowners, residents and private individuals on the basis that if it is not a mainline Irish Water pipeline, that is tough luck and is their problem. That must change and the services that were provided very well by the councils and council workers over the years must remain in place even though this service level agreement has gone.

We are told we have an ambitious programme for housing and yet developers, approved housing bodies and anyone involved in the building of housing will say that one of the biggest issues they face is Irish Water. They cannot even get certainty as to what they are to pay for the connection, yet they are supposed to construct houses and know what the overall cost will be. Costs are different for all the private companies. I urge the Minister of State to intervene in this chaotic company and put it back on track.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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With your kind permission, a Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan will be sharing of some of my time.

I appreciate the opportunity to raise issues pertaining to my constituency and nationally relating to Irish Water. In particular, I want to raise the case of what is going on in Ballyhooly, a small village outside of the town of Fermoy. Ballyhooly has had ongoing significant problems with water outages and burst water pipes. I have raised the issue here in the House on multiple occasions. There does not seem to be proper due intervention from Irish water to fix the problem in that community. It has had an adverse impact on the local national school in that it has prevented further development and growth in the area, along with having a serious impact on local residents in the community.

I am also critical of Irish Water's policy relating to what seems to be non-drinkable water around the policy of providing bottled and tanked water to communities where people get reimbursed and then having not safe for consumption rules. Where boil water notices or non-consumption notices are in place, a service should be provided to residents in that area so that they can get water, get access to water or get reimbursed for it. I have come across it time and time again. For in excess of a decade we have been discussing what is going on in Whitegate, Aghada and the rural east Cork water supply away from Ballyhooly for a moment where people have been drawing water in and out from Midleton down to the communities. I am thinking in particular of elderly people and those with mobility concerns. I want to make the case on behalf of them. We are seeing the long overdue intervention that is required.

It should not take more than three or four years from something being identified as an issue to getting Irish Water to intervene. We have had situations dragging out for over a decade in east Cork. This cannot be allowed to persist. It is worth acknowledging the impact that the capital works are having on the lack of housing delivery in rural constituencies. I am from the constituency of Cork East. It is a constituency with eight major towns and a huge cluster of villages. Builders want to have the opportunity to come forward with projects to build ten, 20 or 30 residential homes in those communities. They cannot progress that because they are unable to get access to water supply and wastewater services because of Irish Water's concentration on more urban areas.

We all know the issues with the availability of capital for major housing builds. Rural builders who are rooted in the community in places like Killeagh and Castlemartyr can find workers and labourers from local sporting organisations and local schools who may want to get involved in the building trade to upskill and do their apprenticeships. It provides a supply of workers to the economy to work in construction. It is important to advance wastewater schemes in these rural communities.

I again raise with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, the issue of Ballyhooly, which must be addressed. I would deeply appreciate if Whitegate, Aghada and all of the areas affected could continue to be prioritised under the new Government.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will carry on from where Deputy O'Connor left off, about whether notices should be issued about the consumption of water. There are other Deputies from Cork North-Central in the Chamber. I know that some Deputies have brought in samples of water in the past. It clearly is not a reliable source of drinking water at the moment. While we cannot blame people for not taking the risk, Irish Water still has this policy where it will not issue the non-consumption notice. At this stage, I think people need to be offered at least the choice or whether they trust what is in the tap or would prefer to drink water from a bottle because at this stage it is clearly demonstrated that the resource that is there is not reliable.

I will mention some villages affected by wastewater treatment plants. Carrignavar is probably the one that gets discussed most here. Development in the village has been basically hamstrung for the last decade. Given the pace at which Irish Water delivers its wastewater treatment plants, it is likely to be hamstrung and restricted in its development potential for at least the next seven to eight years, even if it got the green light tomorrow. I know Cork County Council is actively looking at putting a proposal for a pilot to submit to the Department, basically due to Irish Water's lack of capacity to deliver that wastewater treatment and others. At the moment in Cork county alone, 37 wastewater treatment plants are on a list. Funding was allocated to the first of those two years ago and there is still not shovel in the ground or a digger on site. We need to be radical and have a proper look at what we are doing. Clearly, Irish Water does not have the capacity to deliver these wastewater treatment plants.

While it might not be popular to say it, we need to consider the pilot scheme the local authority in Cork is proposing or developer-led infrastructure again. This is now impinging on our capability to deliver housing as is well documented in here. If developers, particularity on larger schemes and sites, could sit around the table with the local authority and Irish Water and actually devise bespoke schemes that could deliver housing or at least free up the capacity to get on and deliver housing, that would be one way to go at the moment.

I will conclude by mentioning the Carrigrenan wastewater treatment plant in Little Island, which is the largest wastewater treatment plant in Cork. We have periodic issues with it. As it is the largest single piece of wastewater infrastructure in the county of Cork, this is quite concerning. There is a new playground down there, along with a walkway, and new houses are being built around it. Unfortunately, despite all the promises given 20 years ago that we would not even notice it was there, depending on the prevailing wind of the day you can notice it. Once your nose is not blocked and you do not have a cold, it is hard to miss it. It is unfortunate that this happens and continues to happen. Serious investment is required in the Carrigrenan wastewater treatment plant. It is subcontracted out to an English company at the moment and they basically run it. Let us just say that I do not believe they are giving it the same duty of care that Uisce Éireann or the council would have done previously.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for taking this debate. It is particularly important in the context of the biggest challenge facing this country, which is housing. Whether it is the challenge of the cost of connection fees for individuals, which Deputy Lawlor has raised, or indeed for developers trying to build a new estate, some of the amounts are eye-watering. In many cases Uisce Éireann is not willing to negotiate even phased payments. It is my view that every State agency should be contributing towards tackling the housing crisis. They should not be putting roadblocks in place and it should be their top priority to ask themselves every morning "What are we doing to assist in the delivery of housing within the State?". We know the costs involved. It is estimated that for every 50,000 homes, the cost will be a €1.7 billion investment to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure. As a State we have to do that and we are committed to doing that but our challenge as a Government and as a society has always been around delivery. It is not about money anymore. The questions the Minister of State must put to Uisce Éireann are whether housing is top of its agenda, and whether it is delivering.

I will start with a note of praise about the Arklow wastewater treatment plant, which the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made sure was delivered during the term of the last Government. Last week The Guardian newspaper in the UK described this remarkable architectural design by Irish architects Clancy Moore as the world's "most beautiful sewage treatment plant". Indeed, they refer to it as a "cathedral of crap", which is a certain amount of praise. It does show that things can be done and it has led to the Avoca River being cleaned up and tackling some of the environmental problems. It now allows Arklow, a town that in many ways has been held back for decades, to expand and be able to develop in a sustainable way. It should be noted, however, that it was 1988 when Arklow was first mooted as needing a new wastewater treatment. It took three and a half decades before we actually saw real progress. Arklow will begin to grow but there is a problem then for a lot of the villages in south Wicklow. I will instance one in particular, which is the beautiful village of Aughrim where, according to Uisce Éireann, there is no capacity for it to be able to develop. That means, of course, that we cannot have additional housing. Again, this is a significant problem and particularly if we are looking at developing the south Wicklow greenway and looking at tourism offerings and so on. It is impossible if we do not have the necessary water and wastewater infrastructure. The EPA's own report in 2024 talked about some of the problems with regular discharges of partially treated wastewater in Aughrim, and said that Uisce Éireann is failing to address this and that there is no secondary treatment. At the moment, given the schedule, it looks like it will be 2029 before we see it being delivered. That is not acceptable to the people of Aughrim or south Wicklow.

South of the border in County Wexford, in the other part of the constituency I am proud to represent, Gorey is growing very quickly. In the period between the censuses of 2016 and 2022, the population of the local electoral area grew by 14%. That is obviously putting a lot of pressure on connections and so on. Part of the problem, and why all the building is happening in Gorey, is that most of the villages in the surrounding area do not have the capacity. Uisce Éireann's red list of villages where there is no spare capacity includes Ballycanew, Camolin, Ballindaggan, Boolavogue and Killinierin. There is no capacity in these beautiful villages and communities. People who work in those communities cannot live in them, simply because there is no water or wastewater capacity. I will highlight one scheme in particular that has been a priority for Wexford County Council for well over two decades. Deputy Lawlor will know that I am referring to the Ferns-Camolin scheme. The late Independent councillor, Declan MacPartlin, raised this project at nearly every council meeting he was at. It would be a wonderful legacy to him to finally see it delivered for the people of Ferns and Camolin. Without this scheme, it is practically impossible for those two villages to grow. This puts increased pressure on the town of Gorey. We are being told it is a priority. If we are to see that it is a priority, we have to actually see building work being delivered. I specifically ask the Minister of State to go back with this. I have raised it on a number of occasions, including on the floor of the Dáil and the Seanad and directly with Uisce Éireann. I ask that the Aughrim scheme in County Wicklow and the Ferns-Camolin scheme in County Wexford would be prioritised. The Minister of State might come back with an answer to me.

I will conclude by speaking about our creaking infrastructure and the problems in the State with the growth we have had. Deputy Lawlor mentioned some of the problems in Wexford town. Last year we had 22 water outages in Gorey at different stages, which impacted different parts of the town. In many cases these outages took place without notice. In quite a number of cases they were for longer than 24 hours. The Minister of State can imagine the disruption for individuals trying to get to work when they are unable to shower in the morning, or to wash during the course of the day. These outages impacted parts of the town and rural areas like Tara Hill and Ballymoney. It is just not acceptable to have that number of outages. The message has to be in terms of investment. We know the money is there. We talk about the sovereign wealth funds, about the Apple money and about how we are going to invest in our infrastructure, but we need to ensure Uisce Éireann actually delivers. Unfortunately, the experience from a lot of this is that the pace of delivery is just not good enough. The question that Uisce Éireann is not asking every time its leadership gets up in the morning is "What are we doing to contribute to ensure that people can live in homes in our communities?".

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Last night Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted against permanently banning water charges. If the Government does not have an intention of introducing water charges, why does it feel the need to cling on to the power to do so? Why does it continue to hold the power to do so within its grasp? Irish households pay for water charges through general taxation. The amount of water used is comparable to countries that have metered charges, so the conservation argument does not hold. This Government is seeking to cling to the power for double taxation. This is double taxation is to address the fact that the Government is underfunding Uisce Éireann and to account for its failed stewardship of our water services and infrastructure.

On top of general taxation, ordinary workers and families pay additional taxes on services that should also be public services such as road tolls and rubbish collection. In instances where public infrastructure has been privatised, they have the privilege of paying for companies like Eir, which, in the face of a crisis such as Storm Éowyn, leave people without service for weeks and months on end. Irish families cannot bear the brunt of bailing out the Government's failed stewardship of Irish water services and their infrastructure. Last night the Government made its intentions clear when it opposed Sinn Féin's Bill to remove the key to levy water charges. The very least the Government can do is commit to adequately fund Uisce Éireann so that people can, once and for all, actually have the water services they are entitled to.

In the area in which I live in County Monaghan, in villages such as Scotstown, Ballinode and Smithborough, hard water is a genuine issue. As other TDs have done today, I ask that water softeners be installed at source to alleviate the problem. As former TDs have said, this is a real issue that needs redress, and all households should be treated equally.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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One of my greatest frustrations with Irish Water is the difficulty in accessing information or getting a response to representations. I am aware this is a major source of frustration for my constituents also. It was particularly an issue in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, when very little information was provided by phone or email on disruptions to water supply. In recent weeks, I have been getting responses to representations that I made in the week following the storm. A response is not much good to me or my constituents one or two months on from the storm. It is totally unacceptable for a public body to be uncontactable by public representatives.

During the storm, the town of Athenry in my constituency had no water supply. In the aftermath, requests for a water tanker in Athenry were ignored and not responded to. That a town of 5,000 people was left without any water whatsoever and no explanation was utterly unacceptable. I ask that the Government and Irish Water act on these failures of communication. In particular, I ask that backup generators be put in place at pump houses to prevent a repeat of the outages.

I want to raise the failure to invest in upgrading wastewater infrastructure in towns and villages across my constituency. Funding has been allocated for projects in Craughwell and Clarinbridge but we are told it will be years before upgrades are complete. There are many other towns and villages in Galway, such as Abbeyknockmoy, Ardrahan and Corofin, that do not have adequate wastewater infrastructure. The Government has no plans to invest to address the lack of wastewater infrastructure in these areas. This failure to deliver infrastructure is stalling housing development in the towns and villages. The Government is missing its housing targets and we are nowhere near the 40,000 units promised last year. The failure to invest in the infrastructure is one of the key reasons for this. If the Government is not willing to invest in wastewater infrastructure, it is not serious about tackling the housing crisis, certainly in my constituency. We need investment in infrastructure in towns and villages across County Galway and the rest of the State. I ask that the Government act by providing investment and accelerating the delivery of projects if it is really serious about tackling the housing crisis.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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The Minister of State’s printed statement was not circulated earlier. We seem to be getting into the habit of this. Printed statements are very useful if we cannot be in the Chamber at the start of a debate. Therefore, I ask that they be made available in future.

Listening to the debate, it has been interesting to note that many of the issues talked about are very small local ones – individual constituents’ cases in some instances. When Uisce Éireann was set up it, there was a huge investment in it. There was a huge amount of political will to get it up and running. That Uisce Éireann has not even been able to provide information and deal with the specific issues is quite illustrative of how it is dealing with matters. As with many of my colleagues, I find it impossible to get answers from Uisce Éireann. It has actually created an additional bureaucratic layer such that when you contact the Oireachtas line, you are just put on hold. Usually, you hear nothing, or you do not hear anything for weeks or months, by which time the problem you are calling about may be resolved or the people will have become so frustrated because their local TD could not even get a simple answer out of Irish Water, the entity established to provide solutions to their problems with water supply and treatment, that they give up and stop making contact. If the Minister of State is to take anything from these statements today, it is that Uisce Éireann has to be accountable. It gets an awful lot of money from the public purse to do a job, and if there is no basic accountability, we are going to be in a very difficult position. We have been in a difficult position.

Many Members have spoken about Irish Water in respect of the need for housing. Absolutely, there are huge challenges, and the lack of investment in certain areas is stalling the growth of communities. I will go into that in a little more detail later.

I want to talk about the issues from an environmental perspective because we often forget about the environmental impacts of Uisce Éireann not meeting its statutory requirements or indeed its EU requirements when it comes to water management and treatment. All the time, we hear about the problems when it comes to agriculture and the impact of agriculture on our water systems. There are major problems in this regard but we also have very many problems because Irish Water is not doing what it needs to be doing when it comes to treating water. The EPA report from last year highlights that, as it does every year. The EPA consistently rings alarm bells about this. Last year, its report on wastewater indicated that 50% of urban wastewater treatment plants in Ireland were failing to meet EU standards on effluent quality and that raw sewage from the equivalent of 40,000 people was entering our rivers and estuaries every day. Clearly, therefore, there are problems. The EPA makes various recommendations, which it does every year, but unfortunately many of the recommendations are not acted upon.

When I looked through the report – I have read various analyses – I found it really interesting to note that often when it comes to problems with water pollution and Uisce Éireann, it is not big infrastructural problems that are the issue. It is not that they require major investment. It is often a case of small things, such as an alarm not going off or nobody being notified if a pump stops or a generator fails.

If you google "Irish Water and water quality", you will see report after report on where there have been failings. Raw sewage flowed into a town in Cavan for a week after Uisce Éireann failed to spot a pump failure. That should have been easily avoidable. It is just a matter of an alarm system. It does not require major, complex infrastructure; rather, it requires an alarm. Many of the problems we see concerning Uisce Éireann are because of very basic things. That absolutely should be a focus of the work it is doing. The EPA report states Uisce Éireann reported 1,141 short-duration or once-off environmental incidents during 2023. Almost half of these were caused by equipment breakdowns and issues with the operation and maintenance of treatment plants. This is stuff it should have down pat. It should be doing it. It gets enough money to do so. It does not entail large-scale infrastructure. Even if Uisce Éireann were to get that part of its remit right, it would certainly take us a long way.

Locally, in Bray, we had an incident over the Christmas period that meant people could not swim for five days. The annual charity swim was cancelled. Again, it was because of a simple thing. We have major problems with the odour emanating from wastewater treatment plants in Wicklow, including in Greystones and the Murrough. These are simple things that should be resolved but they go on for years and years and there does not seem to be any indication that Uisce Éireann is getting on top of this.

It is not all negative and I will give credit where credit is due, as did Deputy Malcolm Byrne. Arklow is not in my constituency anymore but it was for a long time. The project in that town was stalled and was really in limbo land, and that went on for many years. I ask the Minister of State to pass on that the communication between the team and the locals during the entire construction period was excellent. I want that passed on because it is not all negative. There are elements, for sure, that can work, but there are many areas where the system is not working properly. I ask that the Minister of State look into this.

I want to raise a number of issues on behalf of my colleague Deputy Holly Cairns.

Deputy Cairns raised these issues, specific to her locality, over the previous term on a consistent basis but, unfortunately, they are still issues down there. One of the issues she wanted me to raise were the housing developments in Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Kinsale and the Beara Peninsula. There is a stalling of these developments because of a lack of infrastructure. I know there are complications because there are freshwater pearl mussels there that are protected but there has to be a way of both protecting that species and making sure we have enough water so that the communities down there can grow and sustain the people in those areas.

In Shannonvale, residents continue to deal with a daily nightmare of a sewage tank overflowing into the village green space. It is just incredible that in this day and age, we have a sewage tank that is overflowing in a locality like that. In Ballydehob, the wastewater treatment plant, which is little more than a basic septic tank, is not fit for purpose. This has been going on for ten years and has caused massive ongoing pollution in Ballydehob Bay, emitting effluent into a special area of conservation protected under the EU habitats directive.

The EPA issued an order recently to Uisce Éireann on this but it had issued similar orders in 2009 and 2014 and here we are in 2025 with the same problem still. There is a clear lack of accountability with Uisce Éireann. If there was one thing the Government could get a handle on, it should be making sure that when Uisce Éireann is tasked with a job and funded to do a job, it does that job and it does it properly.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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There are a couple of things I want to raise in this very important debate. We know we have a housing crisis and a housing emergency. The first one is the issue of responsibility and accountability. We have a fundamental problem here in that the area of water is clearly on the Department of housing's website as one of its core five competencies, along with planning, housing, heritage and local government.

Irish Water is a State-owned company. Its shareholders are the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for housing and the Minister for housing appoints the board. I refer to putting in questions on Uisce Eireann. I put in a parliamentary question specifically asking the Minister for housing and local government how many housing developments have applied to Uisce Éireann for the provision of water and wastewater infrastructure, the number of developments that have yet to commence because they are waiting for the delivery of this infrastructure and how long they are likely to wait for the delivery of this infrastructure. I received a letter from the Ceann Comhairle's office stating that the Minister has no official responsibility to Dáil Éireann for this matter under Standing Order 45 and it is a matter for Uisce Éireann. I do not think we can continue with this situation that Uisce Éireann is not accountable to this House and to the Minister for housing. We need clarity on that and I ask for the Minister of State to give clarity.

It is very clear from everything we are hearing in the debate, from what has been said to us and from what we are hearing from around the country, there is a huge issue around Uisce Éireann's accountability on a local level in terms of its working, although there are clearly lots of projects working well. Uisce Éireann has to be accountable - it is a State-owned company - but the Minister for housing also needs to take responsibility. The housing crisis is an emergency. Uisce Éireann is absolutely critical to us solving this housing crisis. If Uisce Éireann is not delivering the infrastructure, we cannot deliver the homes.

Why is the Minister for housing not taking this responsibility instead of fudging it around? I am not sure how we get around this in terms of the Ceann Comhairle, Standing Orders and making Uisce Éireann accountable under the Minister for housing. The chairman, Jerry Grant, spoke two weeks ago at the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and said that the new higher targets for housing would not be met without a new approach from the Government and leadership from the very top. Where is the new approach, what is it and where is the leadership? It links back to this taking of responsibility. We cannot leave the provision of critical infrastructure to the State agency that is not accountable to a Minister and the Minister taking responsibility for that. Mr. Grant also said that Uisce Éireann had no mandate to provide for future housing growth. That Uisce Éireann has no mandate for future housing growth is untenable. That needs to be changed, whether it is by legislation or by direction from the Minister. Uisce Éireann needs to have a very clear mandate to deliver the necessary infrastructure for housing development. This is absolutely critical.

Of course, it is not a new issue. Uisce Éireann has not suddenly had this crisis where it does not have the capacity to deliver for housing. In 2023, a spokesperson for Uisce Éireann was quoted as saying that it can take five to seven years for projects to progress through panning to completion and even longer when difficulties arise. Last year, there was a plan for 126 homes in Dunmanway in Cork that was halted due to overcapacity with a wastewater plant. Last year, Uisce Éireann said €500 million was needed on an annual basis because of the increase in construction costs.

We need to be very clear here; this is an emergency. The housing crisis is an emergency. Uisce Éireann has to be given the funding, it has to be made accountable and the Minister has to take responsibility for ensuring Uisce Éireann delivers that infrastructure. Whatever changes are needed to make that happen need to be made.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I have listened with interest to all the comments throughout the day. If there is anyone from Irish Water listening, I will not take from their woes or suggest it is better than what has been suggested. However, I preface my remarks by saying my engagement with the Irish Water representatives on the ground, when it comes to dealing with local, small issues, has been quite positive. That is against the background that I would know these individuals and I respect them hugely for their speedy responses in times of need.

I want to bring to the attention of the Minister of State a situation that is ongoing for quite some time. A lovely, elderly lady, a widow, had a water connection from a group water scheme for donkey's years - 20 odd years. She lives on the outskirts of Tuam and has a modest bungalow. As a consequence of the way things progressed, that group water scheme transferred that asset over to Uisce Éireann upon which she discovered a chronic lack of water pressure so much so - and we are not getting glorious summers or anything like that - that each time there was any kind of pressure on the system, whether from extreme frost, very warm temperatures or water leakages, that poor lady had to climb into the attic to fill the tank so she could have the dignity of having a shower. I find it unbelievable to think that in 2025, that lady finds herself in a scenario like that.

Let me fast forward. In my previous role as a local representative on Galway County Council, I brought her situation and plight to the attention of water services. It is fair to say they had a lot of sympathy for her and did their utmost to identify what the problems were and how it could be resolved, and I respect them for that. The lady herself was very pleased the officials met her and promised something would happen.

What was to happen, however, was that the water services were to engage with the representatives of Irish Water and Irish Water was to put it into its capital plan - in other words, bring a new connection from the main road to her bungalow, a distance of roughly 120 m. That is a brand-spanking-new connection and it would not require even a road crossing. It would require a road opening licence and would bring a new two-inch water service past her house. That would service the family house, her son's house across the road. There is also an agriculture connection. Irish Water, however, in its wisdom - I do not know why - has decided that this is not its responsibility because it has inherited this asset. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. I have an email the poor lady sent me on 20 February pleading that something be done about her situation. We are all very much aware of how things were so challenging for us in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, when we had to find alternative sources of water. That was temporary; it was a couple of days. For this poor family, however, this poor woman, it is every single day of the week and every day of the year. There must be some mechanism whereby Irish Water can prioritise or look sympathetically, on a humanitarian level, at her situation. This requires this poor woman to get a water connection in order that she can function and her house can have the benefit of a shower, whether it be pump or electric. That is a gospel-true story; it is not made up.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy might send the details to me.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I will, and I genuinely thank the Minister of State for his compassion, but the reason I am saying this and bringing this true story to the House is that this is replicated in many other cases right around the county. This woman has water but may as well have none because she would be ten times better off going outside her back door or her front door, bringing in gallons of water and putting it into the attic in the first place in order that she can have a functioning shower.

Going back to a lot of the commentary all day, and I do not know how much time I have left, a Cheann Comhairle, I have spoken in this House at least twice in recent times about the deficits in Irish Water's investment in infrastructure, wastewater and water supply. There are many cases and many villages - I will not repeat what I said two weeks ago - that are ripe for developing. We do not have investment by Irish Water to provide sewage treatment facilities in order that those communities can grow.

On a bigger scale, however, and this is really concerning, is an executive summary by An Taisce with regard to the deficits in wastewater in our city. I have it with me, not that anyone wants to hear about it or see it. Of course, most people from east Galway who have a job commute into the city for that purpose. In 2007, An Taisce established that one of three pipes, the larger of the three, was ultimately taking the water from east of the city and Oranmore across to Mutton Island. For those people who would not understand the geography, Mutton Island is just off the coast of Galway. An Taisce discovered that the larger of the pipes was at risk of collapsing. That was in 2007, and here we are today in 2025, when there is a greater demand and, one might say, greater pressure in terms of what has to be transported from the city across. There is an acknowledgment there. An Taisce has said this; it is public knowledge. Really and truly, whether one is in east Galway or in Galway city or anywhere else on the island of Ireland, there are chronic deficits that need to be bridged. From where I am standing and as I have said before, most of the haemorrhaging in terms of providing housing is because of the lack of that basic infrastructure.

Who funds Irish Water? That is the question that needs to be asked. Has it done an inventory as to what is required county by county to service the current and projected housing needs in our county? I am not so sure that exercise would be available to us if Irish Water were asked for it. Until such time as we have an inventory of what is underground, whether it be malfunctioning, defective or in need of repair, and the projected numbers with regard to housing delivery, we will not really be able to forecast how many people we have to make provision for in terms of housing for the future.

I do not envy the Minister of State his job at all. There have been a lot of concerns and there has been a lot of criticism with regard to Irish Water and the deficits and maybe the deficiencies within what it is doing and providing. As I said earlier, however, I have had some lovely experiences where I got an immediate response from the guys on the ground. However, sending an email to Irish Water HQ and expecting a speedy response is a horse of a different colour entirely. You will not be afforded the dignity or the privilege of getting that.

That is pretty much it. I do not want to add any more to that. An awful lot of contributions have been made all day long. The first story I told the Minister of State was a real one. The second one is a real county crisis and a county pressure. That information I share with him comes from a reputable source and is beyond dispute.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The consequences of Government failures on housing are well rehearsed. We have record rents, record homelessness and house prices going up every month, pushing more and more families and workers to the point where homeownership is but a pipe dream. The clear reasons for this are the policies enacted by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but some of the reasons are less evident. For example, some people are surprised to hear of towns and villages in Monaghan and Cavan and elsewhere where local developers have sites ready to go, plans in place, workers in place and customers on standby. They are willing - indeed, eager - to provide desperately needed homes for the local community but they are in deadlock, not because of the local authority, not because of any opposition, but because the local wastewater treatment plant is awaiting an upgrade and no development can happen until the upgrade is complete. One would imagine that a government that claims that housing is the social issue of this generation would be moving heaven and earth to sort this out. Not so, I am afraid.

To give an example, in the town of Kingscourt there is a huge demand for housing, both public and private. I am dealing with one developer with a plan to provide some of these houses but the wastewater plant needs an upgrade. When will it happen? Who knows. The local authority cannot tell the developer and Uisce Éireann, it seems, just will not tell. What Uisce Éireann does tell us, however, is that it needs a further €2 billion in capital funding in order to address the capacity issues in towns like Kingscourt. Unless the Government provides the funding needed, all its rhetoric on housing counts for nothing, all the protestations from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael reps about individual plants in counties like Cavan and Monaghan count for nothing, and families in need of housing and local developers eager to provide it will continue to be left waiting. It is time for the Government to get its act together.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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My constituency of Dublin Fingal West has seen fairly rapid growth in recent years but we have not seen a consequent increase in the capacity of water infrastructure. One example is the village of Naul. The local community are worn out begging - I genuinely mean begging - for assistance from the council, the Government and Irish Water. The Delvin river floods when the water infrastructure is overwhelmed, and it is very regularly overwhelmed. The plant cannot cope with the demand and the community is left to deal with the consequences. Uisce Éireann is a creation of the Minister of State's Government, a creation that it dreamt up. It was designed to facilitate privatisation, and we know that.

4 o’clock

I welcome the acknowledgement by the Labour Party that it was wrong on water charges. I can only imagine its former leader, Deputy Kelly, is somewhat mortified today as his colleagues walk back all his hubris-ridden statements in defence of Irish Water and water charges.

I remember the water marches well. I was an official in SIPTU at the time and I marched with SIPTU members who were ashamed of the union's stance. How could you blame them? Many of them were water workers. I stood alongside them. They are the people we need to see working to ensure safe, clean water is delivered, but somehow the Government has managed to make a job in Irish Water deeply unattractive. It is not sufficiently attractive for people to move from the local authorities into Irish Water. The Minister of State should be under no illusions - the Government needs these men and women and their expertise.

I have been in the Chamber for about half an hour and I have heard Deputy after Deputy raise issues with the inadequacy and the inadequate response of Uisce Éireann or Irish Water. By the way, the Government is fooling nobody with the name change, but the very best of luck with it. What Deputies are saying is Irish Water or Uisce Éireann, or whatever you are having yourself, is not capable of responding to the needs of their community. We have a situation where workers are choosing to remain in the local authority because it is not sufficiently attractive for them to move to Irish Water or Uisce Éireann. I urge the Minister of State to intervene in this situation to ensure workers want to move because he needs those workers and we need them. I could paper the inside of this Chamber with representations sent to Irish Water. We need that expertise. I encourage the Minister of State to intervene directly and ensure it is sufficiently attractive for workers to move from the local authorities to Irish Water.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is incredible to listen to TD after TD from the Opposition but also from the Government give out about all the failures of Irish Water, which are very real, and appeal for intervention by the Minister. I will do the same in a moment, but it speaks to the failure of Irish Water as an institution, the only real rationale of which was to take the public assets previously in the hands of local authorities, tie them up in a bow and prepare them for privatisation. That plan, certainly of full-frontal privatisation, was stopped by a mass movement of protest and non-payment, but we are still dealing with a litany of failures by Irish Water as an organisation and a lack of investment over a long period.

I will give an example. Since last December, I have been trying to assist an elderly couple in Springfield in Tallaght who are continually having sewage from an Uisce Éireann pipe flow into their garden. They have been trying to no avail get Uisce Éirean-Irish Water to help them for over ten years. As the pipe passes through several people’s gardens, Uisce Éireann’s response has been to pass the buck and say it is not responsible, even though it is an Uisce Éireann pipe that is causing the problem. The council is no help to them either. On top of being totally unhelpful, Uisce Éireann has threatened this couple with criminal charges if they try to fix the source of the problem. Uisce Éireann is basically telling them to keep cleaning up the raw sewage, keep their mouths shut and stop annoying it. It is a totally unacceptable attitude from a public agency. Raw sewage flooding into anyone’s garden is an obvious health hazard. It is not just affecting the family I mentioned but their neighbours as well. I dealt with a very similar case just a year ago. It was the exact same situation and the same lack of response by Uisce Éireann. It is exactly the type of issue Uisce Éireann is meant to be dealing with. Will the Minister of State look into that and ensure Uisce Éireann does its job?

To go back to the broader point, on Tuesday night we heard from the Government that we should not worry as it does not have any plans to introduce excessive usage charges, which were stitched into the defeat of the water charges as a back door to try to bring water charges back at a later stage. However, at the same time, the Government refused to vote for legislation that would mean excess usage charges would be off the table and could not be introduced in future. People, therefore, would be right to be very suspicious of what the Government is doing. If it goes down that road, it will face a mass movement of opposition that will defeat it once again, so I advise it to give that up now. In an attempt to quell the anti-water charges movement last time around, a promise was made of a referendum to enshrine public ownership of our water in the Constitution. That was in the last programme for Government. It was not delivered and has been dropped from this programme for Government. It is a key issue for the water workers to know they are guaranteed that Irish Water-Uisce Éireann will not be privatised.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I welcome the recent improvements in water quality that have been reported in the past number of weeks. The EPA’s early insights nitrogen indicator report for 2024 shows nitrogen levels in rivers reduced last year. This is a clear and welcome signal the actions that have been taken in recent years are starting to deliver real and measurable results for our environment. These improvements reflect the impact continued investment in our wastewater infrastructure, and especially a shift towards better land and nutrient management, is having, particularly within the agricultural sector. However, nitrogen levels are still too high in some areas, especially parts of the south east. This shows the importance of continued investment in our water infrastructure. This ongoing challenge underlines the need not only for continued national efforts but also for alignment with the higher standards now being set at European level.

At the end of January last year, the European Union agreed a major recast of the urban wastewater treatment directive. That is going to bring significantly higher standards of treatment and conservation across all member states, including Ireland. These requirements are wide-ranging and some are very ambitious. For example, by 2035 all agglomerations of over 1,000 population equivalent, PE, will need to have secondary treatment of wastewater. By 2045 all plants covering 10,000 PE will require quaternary treatment. The reuse of treated water will be prioritised, especially in water-stressed areas, and monitoring of emergent pollutants like PFAS and microplastics will be strengthened. Importantly, by 2045 all treatment plants must transition to 100% renewable energy. These are positive and necessary steps but will require sustained and increased capital investment to ensure our infrastructure can meet those particular targets. In that context, I highlight the Government’s water action plan. It is vital we continue to reduce and eliminate wastewater pollution entering watercourses across our country. Progress has been made. We have seen it in Arklow, for example, and we are looking forward to seeing further improvements in Dublin Bay and beyond. Future-proofing our water infrastructure is not just important but absolutely essential. We must ensure it meets today’s needs while also preparing for higher and rising environmental standards in the future.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Irish Water should be abolished. Of course, it should never have been established. It is not fit for purpose and it is hiding from the public. It has no public offices. It refuses to meet elected representatives in open, democratic forums like county council meetings. Consumers cannot meet any Irish Water official face to face. People can report a problem to a call centre. They may get a report back in a week, or a month or, more often, not at all. Irish Water has contempt for consumers and councillors alike. I had a family deliberately deprived of water for a full ten days over Christmas, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day. It was absolutely outrageous.

Planned outages are not notified to consumers. With Electric Ireland or the ESB, people will get a card saying they will have no electricity between such and such times. With Irish Water there is no such thing. Irish Water is bringing hard water into the town of Clonmel in my constituency. This water has already caused huge problems and costs for families in the northern section of Clonmel. Householders are forced to replace all white goods regularly. This includes dishwashers, washing machines, electric kettles and showers. Many have had to install water softeners, which have significant installation and running costs. Irish Water wants to bring that into the rest of Clonmel and of course refuses to treat the hard water at source. It defies logic.

There is also the matter of sewerage blockages in estates on what are called combined sewers.

These blockages are a health hazard, not just to the householders involved but also to the public because many a time they overspill onto footpaths and public roads. Irish Water refuses to deal with these blockages, claiming they are a private issue even though, before the establishment of Irish Water, they were always dealt with by local authority staff. A blockage at a single location arising from old pipework can affect up to 50 households. It is impossible, impractical and unfair that individual householders should bear the significant cost involved. Irish Water should free these blockages in the same way local authorities did in the past. Will the Minister of State intervene specifically on this issue? I am dealing with a number of these issues through my office. It is causing huge concern to householders.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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We should mark that this time ten years ago, we were in the thick of the battle against water charges. Let us put it on record - it was the most successful anti-austerity campaign at the time when all the austerity was heaped on working, working-class and poor people. This week and this month the Minister swore blind that the Government has no intention of reintroducing water charges. The Taoiseach said the same thing. This week, the Government had a chance to show it meant it by voting for a Bill put forward to repeal the clause the Government left as a safeguard at the time of the effective abolition of the charges. Those of us who campaigned against the charges and organised in our communities warned that a safety measure was kept in by the Government. Ten years on, it has refused to take it away. It seems the EU is twisting the Government's arm once again to reintroduce water charges. I recall ten years ago in this very spot the Government swore blind it never intended to privatise the water system. I recall saying that people on that side of the House would privatise their own mothers if they had the chance. They were hawks for privatisation. Yet again, the Government had the chance to put a provision in the Constitution and it has not taken it. We have to warn people the Government has every intention of introducing water charges. We are going into more tumultuous times in world economy; the cash cow of the tax haven status is being taken away, potentially. The Government will look to make ordinary working-class people pay.

I wish to mention the excessive water charge that has been talked about as being 213,000 l per household, with a cap of €500. That is very generous. As if €500 was not a lot of money for a lot of people. The average house uses 125,000 l so it is very easy to see how the Government can decrease that again and again if it gets away with it, like the brown bin, the green bin and all the other things. I remember the slogan back in 2003, "You only pay for what you throw away". Now you pay for absolutely everything.

I also wish to mention data centres. Of course the water system needs massive investment. Some 500,000 people use at-risk water in this country. We recognise we have to invest in the system with wealth taxes, a financial transaction tax and increased corporation taxes. Uisce Éireann is talking about this excessive charge yet one data centre, for example, in Dublin uses up to 4.5 million l of water a day, the same amount as Dundalk. There is another in Clonee that uses the same amount as Athlone. There is a policy of excessive water use by data centres yet the Government wants ordinary people and householders to pay. It does not make sense. This will be an austerity tax if the Government succeeds in reintroducing it.

Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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As we all know, water is the basic element of life. It is absolutely essential to all aspects of life. I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to invest heavily in our water infrastructure, which is critical and needed to deliver additional new housing units across our capital city and the country. I welcome that the strategic funding has a multi-annual spend of €16.9 billion up to 2029, a huge amount in anyone's book. Other speakers underscored the necessity for us to catch up on the underinvestment in our water infrastructure for many decades. I think everyone in this House accepts that this an absolute necessity. Having said so, I will make some general points in relation to Irish Water, beginning with the issue of the provision of additional housing. I agree with the proposal that there should be some statutory deadlines enforceable against Uisce Éireann to ensure timely delivery of houses, particularly on sites where more than 100 units can be delivered, and to remove that roadblock from housing delivery. We can deliver this reasonably quickly in my opinion.

Deputy Ó Broin mentioned we should appoint additional judges to shrink the time for judicial reviews. We agree with that in principle; however, it is not possible for us to legislate how quickly a judge can hear a case or how long it should take him or her to hear or deliberate on it. This is sailing close to us telling the other branch of the State how to do its business. We are treading on difficult constitutional waters there and should be careful. Given the increasing complexity and interaction between Irish and European law, cases involving judicial review tend to be quite complex and multifaceted. They tend not to be simple, single point cases but based on a multiplicity of points across EU and Irish jurisprudence. Accordingly, I do not think that statutory timelines putting guns to heads across in the Four Courts will help in this regard.

Other issues I have come across regularly from constituents include instances of a number of houses on a sewer line, as Deputy Healy mentioned, and when there is a break in the line or one house repeatedly causes difficulties blocking the lines, causing misery for neighbours, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes consciously. These problems are often experienced where raw sewage backs up in one person's garden, causing absolute misery for those people. Often, it is the home that does not have the shore outlet that is responsible for causing the blockage. It is often the person who has sewage coming up into their garden who has to hire a company to come in privately to unblock the blockages. This is patently unfair and needs to be looked at.

On top of this, there are also issues where the sanitary services Acts seem to impose an obligation on householders to be responsible for pipework that is not on their property and extending out into the middle of the road. This is a statutory imposition and is frankly perverse and unfair. The legislation imposes responsibility on private householders to maintain what is in essence a public sewer out into the middle of the roadway. We need to look at this legislation and ensure the scheme is made fairer. There are often situations where the local authority, for example, has to come out and carry out CCTV inspections of the sewers because the tree root system on the public verge side has broken the sewage pipe and caused leaks and backups into private property. This is where serious pressure is brought to bear on local authorities and Irish Water to intervene. Often, first responders from Irish Water say it is not its responsibility and it is the responsibility of the householder. The first line of defence is to say liability does not rest with us, it rests with you as the householder. This is despite service level agreements between the local authority and Uisce Éireann. We need to extend the first fix sewage pipe breaks on properties, particularly those that are localised. We need to ensure all households on a line are obliged by law to contribute to unblocking blocked sewers where it is their responsibility.

The other issue is the massive commercial charging by Uisce Éireann on primary and secondary schools. I spoke to a school principal of a DEIS 1 school last week in connection with this issue. They anticipated their bill for water would be between €40,000 and €60,000. This means one branch of the State pays another, which creates an unneeded circle of bureaucracy.

I listened to some of our colleagues on the Opposition benches earlier accuse the Government of not supporting their Bill to make permanent the abolition of water charges. The Opposition is well capable of taking legal advice and does so on a regular basis when it suits its agenda. It seems to me this issue is being used as a political football to score points against the Government. I am not a fan of water charges personally. I do not like them, to be honest. However, Sinn Féin and others are well aware that the water charges directive comes from European law. It is not within our capacity in this House to change it.

We must obey it. We are possibly in breach of the directive as it stands.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I would like to reinforce what my colleague Deputy Brabazon said. A number of backbench TDs were actually chatting about this recently. In the old days, there were six houses connected to a sewerage pipe and in the modern context, there might be up to ten. As the Deputy said, very often it is at the last house on that connection where a blockage occurs. In the old days South Dublin County Council, for example, which is my own local authority, would come out and facilitate the resident, unblock the pipe, bring the tanker out and everybody was happy. It might do that on a few occasions. When Irish Water took over responsibility for the service, it ceased doing that and in most cases would say the fault was on the private or residential side.

In the last Dáil, the former Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, brought forward what could be described as omnibus legislation in the form of a transport (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. These come up once every five or six years when a Department gets to renew and refurbish a whole load of legislation under its aegis. What Deputy Brabazon mentioned and what I am talking about in relation to that connection issue only needs a line or two in legislation basically saying that if there is a blockage in a chain of residential houses, everybody connected to that chain must be informed, either by the local authority or Irish Water, that there is a blockage and that everyone on the chain is responsible for it. Everyone is responsible for remedying it, not just the final house on the pipe. We need to do that. Local authorities used to do that, not on a statutory but on a voluntary basis if there was a group of six houses connected and the last one was getting Dyno-Rod or a similar company out to unblock it at a cost of hundreds of euro. It is a small thing and I urge the Minister of State to keep it in mind for an omnibus piece of legislation if such comes along.

I contested the by-election in 2014. It will probably go down in Sinn Féin folklore as the one that got away. The party went into that by-election as odds-on favourite to win. It went into the election with Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, former Deputy Gerry Adams and Deputy Pearse Doherty all saying that they supported water charges and would pay their water charges. Then Deputy Paul Murphy won an overwhelming victory. Certainly the Fianna Fáil Party took account of the public mood at that time and in 2016 an Oireachtas committee was set up specifically to deal with the issue of water charges. We abolished water charges but I favour charging for excessive use. It is the responsible thing to do. I do not think it is a back door to water charges and I would not tolerate or countenance it being such. People who abuse water must be dealt with.

Various points were made about charges and costs. I will relate an experience I had recently. We tend to think there is a single water utility. There was a leak outside my own home which began on 6 January. I reported it to Uisce Éireann, as did my neighbours but the water flowed from 6 January until a week ago. Uisce Éireann came out to have a look at it. It was coming from different areas and it thought the leak might be on the private side and require a first fix but it did not. Then South Dublin County Council got involved and was the most efficient, actually. I received three or four letters from Uisce Éireann for neighbours of mine, sent to my address. I hope it is listening. Its processing of this issue was particularly poor. It was not because I was a resident but I did write to Uisce Éireann as a TD first, on behalf of other residents. I do not think I actually got a formal response, although neighbours did. The way it responds to queries is problematic. In the end, the crack was in a Dublin City Council pipe that was bringing raw mains water to the treatment plant in Ballyboden. I did not think the city council or any other local authority was in charge of anything except surface water these days and I thought Uisce Éireann was responsible for everything else. There is a myriad of organisations involved - for that one leak, we had South Dublin County Council, Uisce Éireann and, finally, Dublin City Council involved. Riddle me that one, if you can.

That said, there are some very positive developments too. A number of years ago I visited Ringsend just before the second phase of the water treatment plant was built. It is a pretty impressive piece of infrastructure. I remember being told when the first water treatment plant opened, and it has stuck in my mind ever since, that the plant treats the equivalent of the flow of the River Dodder over a 24-hour period. That is a lot of sewage coming in and going out of the plant.

Uisce Éireann has much to do. This may sound parochial but in my experience, it has never replaced the local authorities. In my 26 years in elected public life, the local authority was always efficient and responsive when it came to queries. My experience of Uisce Éireann is that it needs to up its game. To any Uisce Éireann executives who might be watching, I am not saying it needs to up its game when dealing with politicians. I am a public representative, elected to represent real people and I bring real queries to its door. It is very hard to interface with the organisation and getting responses from it is a tedious process.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The question of Uisce Éireann is quite complex and it faces many challenges. The rushed approach to setting it up in the first place is one of the reasons that a myriad of different organisations is involved, as Deputy Lahart said. To this day, there are still Dublin City Council workers being contracted to do Uisce Éireann work. If there is a problem in a Dublin City Council area, one can ring Uisce Éireann. Sometimes it is quicker to ring Dublin City Council, or vice versa, depending on the problem.

Deputy Brabazon spoke about obligations around blockages and the unfairness on people who have an outflow or drain in their garden. People who have bought their houses from the council but who find that sewage is coming up in their garden suddenly find that they are responsible for the whole sewerage line. That is a continuous problem. People are not informed when they are buying the house that this is one of their duties, even though they are not the ones who are at fault or are creating the problem. Just because it lands on their doorstep or in their back garden, they must pony up the funds because they are in a private house that is not the responsibility of the city council. That is an ongoing issue and there is a need to address it. If there is a public sewer, it should fall under Uisce Éireann's responsibility, whether it falls on private land or not, because initially it was built in that way.

The other major problem I have with Uisce Éireann is that it does not respond quickly to constituents. Sometimes I get notifications of road closures but other times when there is an issue and we contact Uisce Éireann it can be several days before it addresses the problem. Constituents of mine in Ceannt Fort were three days without proper water recently. This is an area where a lot of elderly people live and it is a consistent problem when there are leakages. We know that Dublin City Council has an old network that needs a lot of work.

However, it is unfair where there are planned works or where exceptions happen that there is no attempt by Uisce Éireann to communicate with those residents, especially in an area where there is no other access to other water.

Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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I strongly welcome the allocation of time today to discuss Uisce Éireann. This week, the community of Castlecomer in north Kilkenny received yet another notification of overnight water restrictions. This is a recurring issue that they have endured for years. This time the cause is critically low water levels. It is now April. We have not even reached the summer months and Castlecomer's water supply is already struggling to cope. What do we expect the community to do if we have warm or dry June and July? This is a sizeable community, yet Uisce Éireann's progress in securing new groundwater sources has moved at a snail's pace. While water exploration is under way, it will not conclude until summer. After that, we face further delays, land acquisitions, planning permission and the construction of vital infrastructures. How much time will be lost in the planning stages alone due to the Government's chronic underfunding of An Bord Pleanála and local council departments? The root cause of this lays squarely at the feet of the Government because of the failures to invest promptly in essential local infrastructures. How many more boil notices will the likes of Ballyragget have to endure? How many more years must this shambolic situation continue? Is it too much to expect a clear, sustainable water supply for villages across Carlow and Kilkenny in the Ireland of 2025? Beyond Castlecomer, towns across Carlow and Kilkenny are paralysed. Prime sites for new developments have been stalled by outdated water and storage systems. Where people have been able to build in Kilkenny and Carlow, the wait for the water connection by Uisce Éireann is often very much delayed. At a time when we are in urgent need of new builds, these delays are grinding building works to a halt and driving up costs for developments. Why is it that Uisce Éireann has not been able to increase its operational capacity to reduce these ridiculous waiting times? It is crystal clear to me that the public deserve a comprehensive review of Uisce Éireann's capital programme to see where it is prioritising its resources. Communities like Castlecomer, which lack even a basic reliable water supply, must be treated as an urgent priority. Communities across rural Ireland should not be left waiting for years for such a fundamental right.

Catherine Ardagh (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Independent Technical Group has 12 minutes. I call Deputy Gogarty.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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We had some discussion yesterday on other aspects of Irish Water. I mentioned the ageing infrastructure and the fact that we have high levels of leakage - 40% overall, although 16% in newer, fast-growing areas like my part of south Dublin. However, some pipes, particularly in the city areas, are more than 100 years old. We need that general investment. That is clear.

As others have said - we had this conversation with regard to the money coming from Apple, for example - we need to invest billions of euro in our water infrastructure, not just because of environmental directives and EU regulations in terms of clean water and proper wastewater treatment facilities but also because of the housing crisis. If we are trying to spend the money in a targeted way, it has been suggested in a number of circles that we have to focus on key towns for redevelopment around the country and ask where we can increase the population in the best way. Obviously, as I have mentioned in a couple of contributions, we also need to focus on Dublin city centre, which has massive potential for redevelopment. The key message I want to send during my brief contribution in this debate is to invest, invest, invest, and borrow, if necessary, because it is in our strategic long-term interests.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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I am delighted to get the opportunity to speak on this debate today. I sit on the Business Committee, and I have been seeking this debate for five weeks. It has taken a hell of a long time to get here. I mean absolutely no disrespect to the Minister of State, but the senior Minister should be here. The huge issue of wastewater and Uisce Éireann - whatever aspect of it we want to talk about - is a national issue and a national crisis. I could be here for two days talking about the issues in my constituency, but I want to look at a way forward too. I asked last week that we would have a question-and-answer session, which was not allowed; that is fair enough. I did say, in fairness, that if it was allowed, we would forward the questions to the Minister of State so that he would have answers rather than just throwing questions out and walking away. The whole point I am trying to make is that we need to look at how we are going to get past the crisis we have at the moment.

I will pick a town like Dunmanway in west Cork. We have had several meetings with Uisce Éireann but we have gone no further than talking about workshops or sweet shops. I do not know what they are on about but, anyway, there is all this kind of nonsense. That is going nowhere as such. That has been pushed out now to 2030 or 2032 - we do not really know. The first thing Independent Ireland did in its policies was to state that Uisce Éireann would be compelled to give a start and finish date within five years, because the people of Dunmanway need to know whether their sons and daughters, and Cahalane Brothers builders, can build houses in Dunmanway going forward. Are they going to be blocked for ten more years? Are they going to be blocked for 30 years? No one seems to know, and that is the astonishing thing. It is fine for me to be in here bashing Uisce Éireann; I am not here bashing Uisce Éireann. I would love to come into this Chamber and tell the Minister of State that it has done well and got the treatment back. Raw sewage is pouring in through the tide there. Look at Shannon. That has been about 15 years, and no house is going to be built. This is what I am saying to the Minister of State.

Is there a possibility - it has happened before - that a developer who wants to build houses where houses are needed in places like Dunmanway will be brought on board with Uisce Éireann to co-fund the development of wastewater treatment plants? That is what we need to look at. There is an opportunity here. We are not moving if we are depending on Uisce Éireann to deliver, because it has said it does not have the moneys and if it does not, I cannot argue with that. On the other side is Shannonvale, where raw sewage has been pouring into the local play park for 27 years. Raw sewage is going into the tide in Rosscarbery. A gentleman told me at a meeting last year that his son jumped into the water, and he was sick for several days after because he drank raw sewage - that is basically what he ended up doing. It has been 20 years in Ballydehob and in Goleen, where I live, it has been 25 years. We are going absolutely nowhere. If farmer has a leakage on the farm, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and Cork County Council come down on him or her and closes the business. They will put that farmer out of business and fine him or her. When it comes to Uisce Éireann, however, there is no accountability. The EPA has gone blind; its officials have gone to sleep behind a desk somewhere. It is not really kicking in the enforcements and the laws that it has. What I am saying is that the political parties are misleading the people when they come in with these figures, whether it is Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Social Democrats or the Labour Party. They have misled the people continuously by giving figures that can never be delivered until we have a proper Uisce Éireann or Irish Water: a company that can tell us what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. That is not happening at this stage.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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I have sat in this Chamber for almost the last two hours listening to this debate. I thought what was happening in Cork city and in my constituency was an isolated incident, but I am sharing the same concerns as people from County Wexford and all over the country who have the same concerns and problems I am incurring every day. First, we have to admit that Irish Water is not fit for purpose. It is not a people-driven organisation. It is answerable to no one. It has become almost like a company operating outside the State, not answerable to the Minister or to anybody. People ring the Oireachtas line for Irish Water and they are given a logging number. That line operates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Then, they are sent to the ordinary telephone line, but they are actually speaking to the same person. I will give the Minister of State a very good example of what happened in my constituency, which I raised in the House not so long ago.

For five days, the people of Ballyvolane in Cork city were left without water. They were given code number after code number and reference number after reference number. Not one tanker came up to help the people of the north side in Ballyvolane. Not one bottle of water was delivered. There were children without water and people without showers and those who could not put on their washing machines or wash, cook, etc. That is unacceptable in this day and age. I would like to tell the Minister of State that this is an isolated incident, but on the north side of the city, we have been told by Irish Water that we need a Government investment of half a billion euro to stop the Guinness-like water coming out of people's taps. That is what it told us. Then, when we asked the question about how long it will take if we get Irish Water the half a billion euro from the Minister and the Minister commits to the project, we were told 90 years at the current pace.

It would take 90 years to correct Victorian water pipes on the north side of the city.

A little bit outside the city in my constituency is Carrignavar where there is no water connection. A ghost estate that has been there since 2008 cannot be connected because Irish Water will not connect it. My own home parish, where my mother and father live, is Blarney. Cork City Council in its most recent development plan had to reduce, rezone and dezone lands because Irish Water came along and said it was calling the shots and nothing will be built in Blarney for the next ten or 15 years because it will not put in a pumping station. "Tough on ye, lads" we were told. I do not know how we are going to solve the housing problem if we cannot build a house.

I have been living in Mallow for the past 20 years. My colleagues in the Labour Party spoke earlier about Mallow and its hard water. That has been going on for years. We do not have a grant or any system in place. Everyone in my estate, including me, has had to purchase water softening products, pumps and other things that go under the sink. It costs, on average, €1,500. Mallow is a working class town. We are not all millionaires. It is an extra charge that we could do without.

Let us consider the situation for people who are buying new houses. Builders and developers will tell you that the connection charge is, on average, €6,000 to €7,000 for a three-bedroom semi-detached house. Whether we like it or not, people are paying water charges by paying that serious connection charge. I dealt with a man in Blackpool who was restoring a house that had not been used for 25 years. Irish Water rang him and said it would supply the water connection at a cost of €3,500. The house was less than half a metre from the connection point. It is unbelievable and impossible to justify that sort of connection fee for a property.

On the north side of the city, it has been going on for four years. It is unacceptable. I am delighted that the Labour Party has gone into reverse gear. Labour was the party that introduced water charges on the first day and stood over them. I say "Well done" to the Labour Party for finally going into reverse gear and accepting that it is responsible for the monster that is Irish Water.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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The programme for Government clearly states that the Government will build 300,000 houses over a five-year period. The truth is that Uisce Éireann cannot produce 50,000 connections in a year. If we consider the funding allocation, Uisce Éireann has €10 billion for the next ten years, but €5 billion of that will go into meeting EU regulations and €3 billion will go into the Shannon pipeline. That means that only €2 billion, or 20%, is committed to the roll-out of new connections. In a housing crisis, I am concerned about the funding allocation. This should be prioritised. The targets for housing in the programme for Government should be built in conjunction with what the State utilities can actually provide.

The other point I wish to make relates to the funding of Uisce Éireann. Prior to the establishment of Uisce Éireann in 2014, local authorities had autonomy around projects for wastewater and water treatment plants. That responsibility has now gone over to Uisce Éireann. It is operating and making decisions on the basis of commercial considerations. As a result, we are seeing the prioritisation of town centres and large towns while villages are left behind. That is happening. There is no communication with local authorities, county councillors and so on. Uisce Éireann has become a faceless entity. It is very difficult as a public representative to get answers from Uisce Éireann. Local authorities should have more say over projects. I ask the Minister to engage with Uisce Éireann and develop a plan to allocate a certain budget to local authorities for local councillors to decide. They are on the ground and know the areas that need to be prioritised and where future development is required. None of this local knowledge feeds into Uisce Éireann's plan whatsoever. That is a major difficulty. If we want to strengthen local government and the power of local politicians, we must start by taking power from these faceless entities and giving it back. We must ensure that the people have more say in respect of this issue.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will talk about two vital Irish Water projects for the Dublin region. The first is the Shannon to Dublin water supply project. In the greater Dublin region, just one source, namely, the River Liffey, supplies 85% of our water. The dependence on the River Liffey and the two big treatment plants in Ballymore Eustace and Leixlip means the greater Dublin region is exposed to risks such as prolonged drought, contamination or both.

Population growth, the demand for housing and the impact of climate change mean we will need 34% more water by 2044 than is available today. This combination of a growing water supply gap and lack of supply resilience is not sustainable. We need to fix this.

The water supply project from Shannon is vital for sustaining economic growth not just for Dublin but for many other counties between here and the River Shannon. Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow all need additional water. The importance of the scheme cannot be overstated. The chair of the board of Uisce Éireann said recently that the supply for Dublin is "very tight" over the next few years because of delay with the Shannon project. As long as I was a member of Dublin City Council, before I was elected to the Dáil, that project was talked about. We need to get on with it, get our statutory permission lined up, get the funding to Irish Water and get it done and dusted for this region. Otherwise, we will be in trouble.

The other project is the greater Dublin drainage project, which is also vital for treating wastewater sewage in the Dublin region. It is meant to be based in my area of Clonshaugh but it seems to have been tied up in objections, challenges and court issues. We seem to struggle with wastewater projects. I have spoken to my colleagues from the west of Ireland, including Galway, and other areas. They are all struggling with treatment capacity for wastewater in particular. As I understand it, the project is still under review in the planning process. We do not seem to by any further forward. There seems to have been an element of European challenge to it, which is fine as long as it is ruled on and dealt with. We cannot go back to the start again for greater Dublin drainage. It is vital that we support Uisce Éireann in whatever way we can to get those two projects delivered and done, to get water supplied to the Dublin region and to get wastewater treated.

Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I stand to say what I wrote in a letter earlier this week to the Ministers, Deputies Browne and Chambers, and to express my incredulity at the dire situation coming to light in respect of the Uisce Éireann infrastructure deficits in Carlow town. I implore the Department of housing and the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Chambers, and his Department to hold Uisce Éireann to account as it is dragging its feet on the development and expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure across our country. We, as elected representatives, are proud of our country and determined to do the best for it. We want to see Ireland as the best place in Europe to live, work, raise a family and run a business. At the moment, however, this vision that we all share for our great country is but a shadow of an idea. Why is that the case? In order to encourage anyone to live, work, raise a family or run a business in this great country of ours, we need to offer people a place to live. We need to have opportunities for our citizens to have a place to call home and at the moment, that is not happening in Ireland. It is not because we do not have the land or the developers, or the will to do so. It is, in part, because a State-run entity, namely, Uisce Éireann, is preventing the delivery of homes.

Ireland is a great country and we have many family-run businesses that, for years, in good times and bad, have built homes here. Such businesses still want to build homes in Ireland but a State-run entity, namely, Uisce Éireann, is preventing that home delivery. We all know that our country is experiencing an acute shortage of housing. We have, as I said, many hardworking builders who are willing and are actively seeking the chance to put their shoulders to the wheel and deliver housing for Ireland. They are being hindered in delivering on that desire by the lack of water and wastewater infrastructure across the country.

On 2 April, just last week, a developer in Carlow received a letter from Uisce Éireann in response to a pre-connection inquiry made by that developer. The inquiry related to a water and wastewater connection in Mortarstown for a development of approximately 48 houses. In response, Uisce Éireann said that in order to accommodate the proposed development, an upgrade of Carlow wastewater treatment plant was required. It said the upgrade project was currently at a detailed design stage and the estimated completion date for the upgrade was quarter 1 of 2031, although that is subject to change. The developer, himself a quantity surveyor, QS, said that six years seemed a bit excessive for a treatment plant upgrade. I am no QS but I would go a bit stronger than that and say that a six year timeframe, which is subject to change, is scandalous. What is going on? I need clarification from the Minister on how Irish Water intends to handle this issue in Carlow, especially with regard to the land availability for capacity expansion and the timeline for such a solution. Does Irish Water have a solid plan to increase the capacity in a timely manner? Does it have the necessary lands? When could the tender process for this expansion start? These are the fundamental questions that need to answered soon, given the scale of development waiting on this infrastructure upgrade.

I have not even mentioned the ongoing need for student accommodation in Carlow, which is a thriving university town. There is speculation locally regarding plans for 600 student beds to be delivered in two different locations close to the university, but how will that happen, given the lack of wastewater infrastructure? A person who has purchased a parcel of land at Green Road hopes to develop up to 50-plus residential units but that will not happen either if the 2031 timeline stands.

Everyone knows how detrimental to our society the lack of adequate housing is. Here we have developers with a solution and with the desire to work with Uisce Éireann, which, let us not forget, has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. I know that under section 7 of the of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 neither the Minister for housing, the Department of housing or the Minister, Deputy Chambers, or his Department have an operational function in the matter I am referring to, or indeed a function in the prioritisation of projects, etc., but they do provide the budget. It is a significant budget of €2.2 billion, in my understanding, with more to come through Apple funding, etc.

I am asking the Department of housing to please send a strong message to Uisce Éireann and to make it loud and clear, whether it is water supply or treatment, that if we are serious about providing homes in our country and making Ireland the best place in Europe to live, work, raise a family and run a business, we need to have this infrastructure in place. Uisce Éireann is dragging its feet and I am asking the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform to hold it to account and to get it to do the work which needs to be done, the work the Government has up put the funding for. It is not good enough for Carlow, it is not good enough for Kilkenny and it is not good enough for Ireland. It needs to be sorted out and the Department of housing and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform need to put more pressure on Uisce Éireann to recognise the urgency here. Quarter 1 of 2031 - tá sé sin dochreidte.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I have been listening to the debate today and a great deal of sense has been talked but I think there is a little bit of speaking out of both sides of the mouth from Members in this Chamber who opposed water charges and think that is the end of the world but then complain that there is not a dependable funding stream for Irish Water or Uisce Éireann and the work it has to do. At the end of the day it is a major infrastructural element of Ireland and it needs to be funded. Yes, that money has to be provided but there seems to be a belief that it can be magicked out of thin air.

I represent the constituency of Dún Laoghaire. Listening to my colleague, Deputy Ó Muirí, one would think that Dublin stops once one get outside the Dublin city area. I know he said that 85% of the water comes from the Liffey but I do not think that is true-----

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Where is Dún Laoghaire? Nobody knows.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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-----for the greater Dublin area. In fact, we depend on Blessington and other places for huge amounts of water. The point he makes is absolutely right, however, in that there is going to be an increasing demand on that water supply. We need to be putting in place measures now to ensure the water will be there. There are so many ways in which we can do that. Obviously we can find alternative water sources. Deputy Ó Muirí mentioned the plan to move water from the River Shannon, where it is in abundance, to serve the greater Dublin area. I agree with that plan. Some people find it controversial but in the medium term we need to be actioning that plan.

We also need to put measures in place to ensure we use as little water as possible. We know there is leakage in Dublin, although it is lower than elsewhere in the country. Nationally, Uisce Éireann has made progress in reducing leakage by 9% since 2018. We still, however, have a leakage rate of 37% nationally and 33% in Dublin. That is an enormous amount of water that is being collected, treated and put into pipes but then not getting to the taps where it is needed. It is a huge problem but I recognise the very important work Uisce Éireann is doing to reduce that leakage figure.

Let us look at other innovations. One of the things I have been talking about for many years, including when I was a member of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, is about putting in place water systems in domestic settings to save water. This would involve putting in parallel grey water systems, sustainable urban drainage systems, water collection, water storage and things like that which reduce the amount of water we waste and reuse water in a way that makes the most out of the water that comes into the house. The idea is that certain systems within houses, such as kitchen sinks, showers and things like that produce water after the fact which cannot be drunk, but it can be treated very simply within the home and used for other functions, such as flushing toilets, for example. In that way, water used to flush the toilet would have been used once already within the house. That would hugely decrease the demand of that household for water but also the output from the house, which creates other knock-on problems.

In Dublin, for example, the Victorian infrastructure we have for dealing with our sewage is creaking. It is totally inadequate to deal with the population we now have in Dublin. In Dublin Bay, for example, one can see the knock-on effect on water quality. When there is what is called a substantial rainfall event - when it rains heavily - the run-off from the roads goes into the sewerage system and down to the pumping station at the back of the West Pier, where there is an attenuation tank which stores the water, and it is pumped through in an undersea bed pipe from the back of the West Pier to the Poolbeg sewage treatment plant. The pumping station can only pump a certain amount of water and the plant itself can only treat a certain amount of water. The idea that the plant is needed to treat run-off from roads and other drainage systems within the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area is a nonsense. It does not need to be. That water should be diverted away from the sewerage system and the pipe should only be pumping sewage that is not diluted by rainwater for treatment in Poolbeg. That would immediately reduce the capacity issues in Poolbeg. That is not to mention other projects like Clonshaugh, which have not yet come on stream but are massively needed to deal with water treatment within Dublin.

The bigger problem it creates is that when those heavy rainfall events occur, the attenuation tank at the back of the West Pier in Dún Laoghaire fills up very quickly because all the rainwater goes into it. When the tank is full and the pipe that goes in to Poolbeg is working at full capacity, there is nowhere else for that overflow to go. It is mixed in with sewage that comes out of toilets throughout the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area and it has nowhere else to go but into the sea and, at what is known as "the gut" at Seapoint, there is literally untreated raw sewage which occasionally flows into the sea at that point. What do we think that does to the water quality in Dublin Bay, where we fish and swim and which we use for leisure purposes? Of course it diminishes it. That is why local authorities have had to regularly issue bathing water advisory notices in recent years, telling people they cannot swim in Dublin Bay because it is so dirty and dangerous. That is a function of Irish Water as well.

If we are serious about tackling this problem, yes, we need to address supply issues and leakage issues, but we also need to deal with sewage and the inadequate sewerage system. We need to replace it with a modern system that separates water and recognises that water that goes into the drain is not the same as water that comes out of the toilet. Within a house one should have a blue water system, which is the potable treated water which comes in, and a grey water system, which is water recycled within the house. Using sustainable urban drainage, for example, water can be collected from drains in the garden or off the roof, while water used in showers or kitchen sinks can be recycled and used to flush the toilet. What cannot be treated within a household setting would then come out through a brown water system, go into a sewer and ultimately end up in Poolbeg, Shanganagh or wherever it is that it needs to be treated. Until we do that, we will have no realistic prospect of dealing with the demand on the water system. Water affects everything, from households to the fire service, industry and all of the other things we need water for. It is an incredibly important part of our infrastructure within the city and we need to prioritise it.

I want to acknowledge the fact that Uisce Éireann is making progress in that regard. I also acknowledge that in my dealings with the company through the Oireachtas liaison it has, I have found its staff to be an incredibly positive and active group of people. At the same time, I recognise that Uisce Éireann cuts off water from time to time for valve replacement or natural leakage reduction and does not really tell people in the area.

5 o’clock

I know there is a text alert service but many people do not know about it. I find that when I notify people in the local area, it is the first they have heard of it. There is a communications part to be done. Let us all get together and make sure we give Uisce Éireann the tools it needs to deliver for everybody in the country, particularly where the demand is acute in Dublin.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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On Tuesday, Sinn Féin introduced a Bill in the Dáil that would scrap water charges for good and prevent the Government from introducing them in the future. It would put an end to the debate for good, even if the Government wanted to introduce charges for water. Lo and behold, surprise, surprise, the Government voted against this, leaving the door ajar to introducing water charges in the future. In fact, Deputy Ó Broin and I were the only two TDs in Dublin Mid-West who voted against introducing water charges for ordinary workers and families. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been doing their usual flying of kites in recent weeks. They were conniving in the background to reimpose water charges through the back door. This sounded alarm bells and these alarm bells simply could not be ignored. This conniving has been going on since 2017 with the Government's plan for the so-called excessive use charge. This is nothing but a Trojan horse. We all know that once the Government gets its teeth into the people of the State and introduces any form of domestic water charge, it simply will not let go.

I was part of the Right2Water campaign and I joined hundreds of thousands of people across this island. We marched, we protested, we campaigned and we did not give up. Ultimately, we defeated the imposition of water charges. This united front defeated the privatisation interest of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Privatisation of public services simply does not work. In fact, it has been a disaster in some areas. It has not worked in public transport, where we have seen a new phenomenon of ghost buses and a lack of confidence among commuters to use public transport. It has not worked in waste management, where we have seen cartel-like price hikes imposed on customers. It also has a negative impact on the environment, with multiple bin trucks going down the same roads at all hours of the day and night.

The purpose of the Sinn Féin Bill was very simple. If the Government wanted the public to believe it had no intention of introducing water charges, it would simply have supported it. The Government had a chance to put this matter to bed, once and for all, but it failed to take this chance.

I also wish to raise a local issue that is affecting residents in my area. Residents in Westbourne, Clondalkin, have stated that activity by the council and Irish Water trucks in the Deansrath depot takes place early and on most days of the week, including weekends. This work takes place at all hours of the week at the depot and is impacting the mental health of the residents in Westbourne. Soil, sand and rock collected by contractors at other sites are brought here and placed at the depot behind the houses on Westbourne Close, which residents say leads to noise and dust pollution. The Westbourne residents group wants waste materials stored and dealt with on the other side of the yard, away from residential housing. It also cites issues with rats and seagulls as a result of waste being dumped at the depot.

The Sinn Féin councillor for the area, William Carey, has done Trojan work on this issue. He has requested that the council ensures that activities at the depot do not have a detrimental impact on the residents in Westbourne. It is my understanding that drinking water and wastewater operations, which are now under the remit of Uisce Éireann, are planned to move out of Deansrath in 2025 to a new depot. That cannot come soon enough for the residents of Westbourne. There are signs in place to remind staff to keep noise to a minimum and to keep the yard as clean as possible. Even with these signs, however, the residents of Westbourne say that despite numerous communications to South Dublin County Council and Irish Water, the problem remains as bad as ever.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I thank Uisce Éireann for coming in to meet me recently. It was a very good and informative meeting. I understand that it plays a critical role in managing one of the most essential services that we all rely on every day. Uisce Éireann had a huge portfolio when it began ten years ago, including the treatment of infrastructure and environmental standards. It is really doing its best. However, since being elected to this House, I am not happy with the fact that, as Deputy O'Flynn noted earlier, no one is accountable.

In a question on 5 February 2025, I asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications about the investment that is planned to modernise the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant to prevent pollution in Dublin Bay, and if he would make a statement on the matter. The question was disallowed, however, because, under the Water Services Act, the Minister cannot give directions to Uisce Éireann. On 19 February, I asked a question of another Minister with regard to ensuring that Dublin Bay is protected considering the urgent environmental need to address pollution and the issues of continuous run-off, and it was again disallowed under the same Act. Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives but when I contact it online, it takes five or six weeks to get a response. It is not acceptable, especially having being elected by the people of Dublin Bay North to look after the bay, which was a huge part of my mandate. I was endorsed by the family of Seán Dublin Bay Loftus, who did great things in the past to protect Dublin Bay for us right now. Otherwise, it would have been filled in, which was the plan at the time.

In another question, I asked if the Taoiseach could provide a clear timeline for the completion of the upgrade of the works at the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant, given the ongoing public health and environmental concerns arising from its capacity issues, and to outline the immediate measures the Government is taking to prevent the continued discharge of untreated wastewater into Dublin Bay. I measured this myself and could see from the levels that E. coli was at 3,000 ppm, which is six times the safe limit for people to be swimming. I know of multiple residents who swim in Dublin Bay at Dollymount beach and Howth and who have been getting ear infections or getting very sick. We need to look into this. Dublin Bay is not just for north Dublin but also for south Dublin. Sadly, due to the development of the port, as I saw in simulations, when there is a run-off, the water gets pulled out with a plume of E. coli, and when the tide comes back in, this circulates and hits the north strand, which is where everyone swims. It is very sad to see. Other countries have changed the way the water gets taken in and out by the tides. We need to look into this in order to save and protect Dublin Bay and the swimmers. I would like to see investment by Uisce Éireann and the Government in oyster farms that can be used as a filtering system, and after the oysters have lived their cycle, we can grind them down for fertiliser. We need to provide real, organic solutions that can give encouragement and improve Dublin Bay.

We cannot talk about housing, which is the biggest issue that the Government will be judged on, without talking about water. It does not work. We need to plan our water services and modern investment or we are not going to reach our housing targets. We simply cannot do it. I welcome that Uisce Éireann is currently enabling delivery through targeted infrastructure upgrades, which is progress, but demand is far outpacing current supply. I welcome the contribution of Deputy Ó Muirí and I agree with him in most part. Whether it is wastewater treatment capacity or connection timelines, outdated systems are limiting our ability to deliver homes at scale. As we have discussed in this debate on Uisce Éireann, in many areas Ireland’s water network is decades behind where it needs to be. Some pipelines that are still used were laid in the 18th or 19th century. That is not just an issue for Dublin; it is for everyone, and Deputy O'Flynn spoke of the situation in Cork. This is a public risk. It means leaks, people getting sick and burst pipes, and it will continue to increase maintenance costs. A recent article suggested that we lose approximately 37% of treated water every single day. That is treated, pumped and purified. Money has gone into this water but it is gone; it is lost. That is ridiculous.

I welcome the current capital plan, which is a step forward. I am not just going to give out because it would be easy to do that about Uisce Éireann. I understand that it has a long-term vision. I encourage Members to work with it. We need to put in the framework, the funding and the policy, put the political will behind it and really push Uisce Éireann on this. Let us be honest. This is a multi-decade project and it is going to cost billions of euro. I saw in a recent estimate from Uisce Éireann that it is going to cost over €60 billion in the next 25 years to modernise our national water infrastructure but it needs to be done. When we compare that to the economic cost of inaction, we need to do it now. Similar to the climate goals that I referred to earlier, we need to face this now.

There was a €300 million loan from the European Investment Bank and while I get a bit of confidence from that, it is just a start. We need sustained investment from the Government and the EU to really deliver what is required.

Many people were without power and water during recent storms. We must make every single part of our infrastructure a top priority, be it the grid or water. We cannot wait for the next storm to highlight the fragility of our systems, because we know for a fact that when it comes, we will be given out to again by the same people who just poke holes and never offer solutions.

We need joined-up thinking. As a councillor, I saw what happens in local authorities. There must be clearer communication between local authorities, the planning bodies, the Department of housing and the Department of the environment. We need to work together because at the moment it seems that there is no communication. It is as if we are all acting in our own way. Everything needs to be done together.

I welcome this debate. We should fast-track the upgrade of our water infrastructure. I urge Uisce Éireann to do that. With the new sensitive planning developments, it needs to be done correctly.

I have heard rumours that there is a plan for an Uisce Éireann pipe going down the promenade in Clontarf - the same pipe that was planned 14 years ago, to which the locals strenuously objected. Does the Department have any information on whether it is intended to do that? Given that the locals objected very strongly to a proposed berm that was going to completely remove the promenade and make it unsafe for people to walk at nighttime, we need to know if Uisce Éireann is planning to do that again. We just had the cycle track opened up for Fairview and now it is planned to do another one to two-year development, ripping up the cycle track again. There must be another solution.

Let us not plan for the next election in five or ten years' time. We must work collectively to make water infrastructure a top-tier national priority. We owe it to our constituents. I owe it to mine. I got elected on this mandate. Dublin Bay deserves to be clean for our future and for future children.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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We have had a debate for more than three hours with 38 contributions, which shows the significance of the issue for people. I thank everyone who has taken part in the debate.

I will touch on a few general points and then I will try to address some of the points that were raised by Members. I want to reflect on the progress has been made since Uisce Éireann was established as Irish Water more than ten years ago. In that time much improvement has been made in the delivery of water services. Thousands of kilometres of new rehabilitated water mains have been installed and leaks have been reduced, although I accept that the leakage rate is still very high. The overall quality of drinking water remains high.

Every day Uisce Éireann treats approximately 1.7 billion litres of water and 1.2 billion litres of wastewater. Uisce Éireann also maintains the source of our water, with more than 1,100 abstractions and more than 1,500 reservoirs connected to tens of thousands of kilometres of pipes. Millions of households and businesses are supplied every day with water and wastewater services, with thousands of treatment plants running around the clock.

We are dealing with a legacy issue of underinvestment in water services and infrastructure in Ireland. The scale of remedial works necessary in our water and wastewater system will take a number of years and investment cycles to fully resolve. We are putting substantial funding into Uisce Éireann. The funding plan for Uisce Éireann for 2025 to 2029 was approved in November 2024 and sets out the capital and operational costs to be incurred by Uisce Éireann over a multi-annual period. The strategic funding plan has a total funding requirement of €16.9 billion, of which €12.1 billion is voted Exchequer funding. The strategic funding plan has a capital investment requirement of €10.2 billion, of which €9.8 billion is voted Exchequer funding. To meet increased housing targets, Uisce Éireann will require additional funding on top of the strategic funding plan over the next five years, which will be ring-fenced for housing and growth. This additional funding will be considered as part of the NDP review, which is due to be completed in the middle of the year.

Once again, I put on record that there will be no introduction of a household water conservation charge. It is not in the programme for Government and it will not be introduced. That is categorical. That is once again being put on the record.

First, I want to deal with some common general themes that emerged when I looked through the points Members raised and then I will try to respond to the specific matters raised by the Members who are still here.

Communication was a common thread. I acknowledge the great work done by staff on the ground in Uisce Éireann. They are doing great work. It is coming across that Members want to look at the whole issue of communications, both nationally for Oireachtas Members, and for public representatives such as councillors and the general public. That is something the officials in the Department and the Minister, Deputy Browne, will follow up on.

Another issue that was raised was water softeners. It came up on numerous occasions that it should be available at source. Deputy Healy and others referred to pipework in private houses in an area. Such houses are on private land but blockages are something we will take up with Irish Water, in addition to water softeners. Speakers also raised the key role that Irish Water will have to play in the provision of housing.

Many constituency issues were raised. I ask Members to write to the Department and to the Minister and to raise those specific points. Department officials are watching the debate, as is the Minister while I am here. Quite a number of speakers raised issues relating to the elderly, which is within my remit in both the health and housing areas. I urge Members to write to us in that regard.

Deputy Catherine O'Callaghan referred to Carlow. It is a matter she already raised with the Minister, Deputy Browne. That is something we will examine.

Operational matters relating to water services lie with Uisce Éireann. The Government is the shareholder of Uisce Éireann, through the Minister for housing and the Minister for public expenditure and reform. They report in terms of oversight from the Government and overall development matters, but the operational matters themselves lie with Uisce Éireann.

We want to fund Uisce Éireann. It is hugely important that it continues to upgrade the water network. Deputy Heneghan referred to the fact that it is a project that will take time. Progress has been made. One of the points that also came across is that the benefits are evident.

Deputy Malcolm Byrne made reference to the Arklow sewerage network, which is being upgraded, both in terms of the impact it has had and more particularly the interaction with Irish Water staff on the ground, and how positive that was.

The key point is that the Government recognises that the wastewater networks require ongoing sustained investment to bring them to the required standard of treatment to deal with population growth and to adapt the impact of climate change.

Deputy Ó Muirí also made reference to sewage in Dublin Bay. I very much take that on board. Deputy Ward raised the same issue. It is important that we have a process here, involving a structured body to upgrade the old water networks and to provide new networks as well. We want to continue to ensure that Irish Water can carry this out and keep it going. I referred to the strategic plan and the funding we are giving in that area.

A number of changes were introduced for Uisce Éireann under Housing for All, including the establishment of a self-lay accreditation scheme to facilitate developers in providing water services infrastructure, provided agreed standards are met.

The scheme accredits experienced contractors to deliver new water services infrastructure on public roads for housing developers. It was launched 18 months ago, ahead of schedule. Uisce Éireann introduced a first mover disadvantage scheme in November 2023. This can occur in areas of new development where a first mover developer triggers new network infrastructure and incurs the costs associated with connecting their lands to the existing Uisce Éireann network. The disadvantage may arise if the developer funds new network infrastructure as part of their connection and these assets have wider network benefits in the future. This can be a great disadvantage for the developer as subsequent developers connecting may benefit from the connection of assets put in place at the cost of the first mover developer.

From November 2023, developers impacted by first mover disadvantage may qualify for a rebate under this scheme. As part of Uisce Éireann's commitment to supporting growth and development, it published the annual water supply and wastewater treatment capacity registers. The purpose of these capacity registers is to assist planning authorities in their forward planning activities. Capacity of the water supply changes based on the availability and demand of existing customers. The purpose of the water capacity register is to provide an indication of the available capacity to support development. Sufficient funding has already been secured for Uisce Éireann under its new strategic plan. The Government is delivering a sustainable pathway for further enhanced and ongoing significant improvements in our public water and water services. Conservation of the water supply is also a key policy for the Government. I thank all those who have contributed today and I note the work being done on the ground every day by Uisce Éireann and its staff to maintain our water service and bring improvements to it. Improving and strengthening our water infrastructure is vital and the Government is committed to ensuring substantial funding is provided to Uisce Éireann to deliver on its mandate.