Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Irish Water: Discussion

9:30 am

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be as brief as possible because many of my questions have already been answered.Now that we have representatives of the Department, Irish Water and Ervia before the committee, I wish to acknowledge on the record the massive progress that has been made in the short time that they have beenin situ, which can be seen in communities across the country in terms of the boil notices that have been removed, the ongoing challenge in addressing leakages in the system and the new treatment plants that have been established. In my county, we now have blue flag beaches every year, which we did not for many years, because of the treatment plants that were put in on the Waterford coastline by Irish Water. That said, I also recognise that there are outstanding challenges in terms of major reform, which is never easy. This involves the establishment of a national utility and the subsequent reform of the system that delivers on that utility. It is never easy but it is very necessary and something to which I wish to give my full support.

As I have stated previously, as a person who has worked for a national utility for over 20 years, that being ESB Networks, I have seen at first hand the critical necessity of asset management, which was mentioned by Mr. Grant. Although I acknowledge the role of local authorities over many years in doing their best to maintain the water systems and to deal with the huge leakage and lack of investment in those networks over many years, unfortunately, it was not managed in a sustainable way as an asset. There has been fragmentation, lack of investment, duplication and no asset management systems in that regard. Irish Water is going in the right direction in terms of sustaining our network to meet the critical need and in the national interest but, unfortunately, as we have seen, politics sometimes gets in the way of that. As Irish Water moves towards the next step of transformation and reform in terms of how we manage our water networks, political interests should step aside and leave it to the unions and Irish Water management to engage in good faith, as others have said, in a comprehensive way to try to structure the steps forward for how Irish Water will deliver for our citizens and economy. I wish the witnesses well in that regard. It is not for this committee to predetermine those negotiations, which will be complex and difficult, but, if Irish Water, the local authorities and the unions approach them in good faith, I am confident we can achieve a very balanced outcome that will work in the national interest.

The delegates mentioned the operational savings. I think they said savings of €250 million had been achieved to date. Within the reform projections, do they see further strong savings in that regard? I presume they will be looking for efficiencies in streamlining the management of the utility. Is there any indication of what the projected savings might be? Ultimately, they will be to the consumer or the citizen. We need to acknowledge the efficiencies that have been achieved, while asking if there are further efficiencies to be achieved.

I note why the design, build, operate, DBO, contracts were necessary. Expertise was needed for the design, build and operation of various wastewater treatment plants in Waterford and other areas, some of which I have mentioned. The delegates mentioned that there were contracts in the order of €100 million. Where do they lie in the future plans of Irish Water? Is it planned to continue with them to their natural end or to try to renegotiate them?

On the recently announced Ireland 2040 plan which is a very ambitious plan for Ireland with strong aspirations for growth in population and economic demand, are the delegates confident that they have made adequate provision in capital projects to meet the demands of Ireland 2040, citizens and the economy? I would like them to indicate where we stand in that regard.

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