Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late and missing the start of the presentation. I was at a meeting on pyrite with the Minister of State, Deputy English.

I commend the staff of Irish Water on the work done during Storm Ophelia and the other more frequent weather events we have had. From my experience in Fingal, the Irish Water crews are responsive. Unfortunately, I see these crews around Fingal a lot because major work is being undertaken there on drinking water mains and foul sewer pipe replacement. On the mains water replacement, what are the targets for leakage reduction? I will be a little colloquial and focus first on Dublin where the major instances of losing water through our mains network, before it even gets to the tap, occur.

Is Irish Water looking at the 1% per annum replacement and how is that going in terms of targets in that regard? There is major work happening in the Swords area with regard to a substantial replacement of the mains. In general terms, what are the targets and what does Irish Water consider to be an acceptable level of water to be lost, if there is such a thing? I have looked at some other cities such as London and Lisbon. I am not sure whether the figures are correct but it appears that Lisbon has seen a reduction in leakage of 64% in eight years. Is a figure like that attainable?

In relation to the greater Dublin drainage, GDD, scheme, and the wastewater treatment and management in the greater Dublin area, I am aware that it comes under the remit of the GDD project but what interaction does Irish Water have with that? Are there still plans afoot to create another larger wastewater treatment plant than the one we have at Ringsend? Is that still going ahead and where do the witnesses consider the project to be at the moment?