David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of the committee but I am substituting today. I welcome the guests to the meeting. I acknowledge the very fine work that has been done in my area in the last number of years. A fantastic treatment plant in Youghal in County Cork was opened a number of years ago, which has meant that the Blue Flag beaches have been retained and the Ironman event was able to take place down there, and will take place again, thanks to the work of Irish Water. Carrigtwohill also has a fantastic treatment plant, one of the most modern in the country open with great capacity. Of course the big one, which was opened very recently by the Taoiseach, is the Cork Lower Harbour main drainage scheme, which took 44,000 wheelie bins of raw sewage per day out of the harbour. I want to acknowledge the good work that is being done there and thank the witnesses for that.

On the flip side of this, which is the reason this meeting has been called, is the infrastructure for the small towns and villages growth programmes and the constraints that exist. Some colleagues have suggested that Irish Water is acting almost as a planning regulator because people cannot build houses and go ahead with their plans for housing because of the constraints. That is very evident in my own town of Midleton. Very recently there was a CPO of land to put in a pipeline and build two pumping stations. As regards CPOs, does Irish Water rely on voluntary agreements rather than going through the process? My understanding from talking to local people is that if you can get voluntary agreements on CPOs, for wayleaves in particular, it is a lot faster and cheaper but there is another process going on that is far more formal and legalistic. That is something the witnesses might take on board. If Irish Water sat down and talked to the landowners and developers who control or own the land and try to get voluntary agreements it might be a lot cheaper and faster.

I have a question for our guests from the Department. With respect to CPOs and planning, it seems to be a bit frustrating that Irish Water is CPO-ing land for wayleaves and pumping stations and then it must wait for that process to be completed before it can start applying for planning permission. Mr. Ó Coigligh in particular might be able to tell me this. Are there plans to speed up that process by allowing utilities to apply for planning at the same time the CPO process is under way? Does the legislation have to be changed to allow that? It would speed things up enormously if that were the case.

The other big town in my area is Mitchelstown. I know there is some work ongoing there but the witnesses might come back to me on that. We are back to the reason this meeting was called, which is constraints. We cannot build a doghouse in Mitchelstown because of the constraints. It has been highlighted locally and there is a lot of frustration there. In Castlemartyr, there is a developer ready to go.

Until he gets clarity and some kind of understanding or perhaps an agreement with Irish Water, however, he cannot even start the planning process. There is one village and two large towns in my area where developers and builders want to build. There is an unbelievable demand for housing, yet they cannot proceed because of the constraints and because of Irish Water's wastewater treatment capacity issues. I am told it will be 2023 before a pipeline to pumping stations will be ready in Midleton. Again, that sound like an awful long time. It seems to take forever for plans to get done. I am told it would only take a couple of months to do the physical work but the CPO process, planning, tendering and all that stuff seems to take forever. Is there any way that can be speeded up? People are frustrated about it.

A builder is ready to go in the village of Glanworth in north Cork. The wastewater treatment plant there is not fit for purpose and needs an upgrade. He is going to contribute, in proportion, to the amount that would be linked to the houses he wants to build and yet he is finding it difficult to make any progress. It needs to be done because it is in bad condition. That is another small village in which a builder wants to build houses. He is ready to go and wants to build but cannot because of the constraints. I am sure colleagues all over the country have similar stories.

The witnesses might come back to me, although maybe not today because I know they are questions about specific locations. Perhaps the suggestion with regard to CPOs, planning and even tendering could be telescoped together to make things move a lot faster. They are the issues I wanted to raise. I wanted to impart the frustration people have and highlight the significant demand for housing, and the fact that Irish Water is being seen almost as another planning regulator, and, practically speaking, in many instances, it is another planning regulator in this regard.