Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair, and the Deputy for his questions. We face a number of challenges in the provision of water services at the moment. We have planned a number of different capital projects to that end. The main constraints we face relate to the construction sector and the supply chain. This is something we normally face when it comes to the provision of water infrastructure. We face it when we look at all of the infrastructure provisions that need to be made. I have been speaking with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, about a number of different mechanisms that might be put in place to manage infrastructural development into the future, given the significant investment that is now going to go in on the capital side of most budgets to make sure there are no unforeseen bottlenecks or that a project is not started that cannot be continued because the skills or machinery are not there. That is something we are doing on a national basis.

I am due to meet Irish Water to talk about what our priorities are in terms of the future provision of water. We need to find that balance between repairing leaks and pipes that are already there and providing new water supplies to make sure our cities, towns and villages can continue to grow, as is anticipated.

On the issue of group water schemes and subsidies, an important piece of work was done in tandem with the water Bill last year. We were working on Irish Water, and I believe members knew that a huge piece of work was being done with the private group water schemes both to ensure they were being treated fairly in terms of the restoration of subsidies and that there would be sufficient capital supports in place for the future provision of group water schemes. Perhaps the public was not aware of that work. We are about to initiate a very short review of the wider investment needs of group water schemes to look at the kind of funding they will require over the coming years. The review will consider the capital requirements, the supervision of water quality and governance arrangements. It also will look at some schemes that have been orphaned for various reasons, as well as those schemes which may wish to come in to what might be called the public water sector. We hope to have finished that work in the second half of this year and that will inform our preparations for the budget for 2019. We will be getting into that wider process in the not-too-distant future.

The Deputy also asked about wastewater and the river basin management plan to 2021, as well as the strategic funding plan. We are looking at the next river basin management plan at the moment. We have been a little bit delayed on that, and it is the subject of some proceedings. We continue to work to get this new replacement management plan finalised as quickly as possible, and we will see what happens in terms of the proceedings that are under way. As for further details on the river basin management plan and the forthcoming €1.7 billion investment in infrastructure, 276 wastewater treatment plants are being looked at, as well as the 162 at-risk water bodies where urban wastewater has been identified as a significant pressure. As we address those through the river basin management plan and as the funding is allocated, there should be some impact in terms of infringement proceedings that are currently under way.