Mr. Ted O'Reilly:

I am joined today by my colleagues Anthony Skeffington, regional operational and maintenance manager, and Des Joyce, water treatment manager and asset planning. With our colleagues, we work together in overseeing the planning, delivery and management of Uisce Éireann’s water services. We welcome the invitation to address the committee today and to take the opportunity to provide information on some of our activities in delivering water services to rural areas and the islands of Ireland.

We are Ireland’s national publicly owned water services utility responsible for the delivery of secure, safe and sustainable water services for the people of Ireland. Our purpose is to rise to the challenge of delivering transformative water services that enable communities to thrive. Our vision is a sustainable Ireland where water is respected and protected for the planet and all the lives it supports.

The Water Services Acts 2007 to 2020 set out the arrangements for the oversight and delivery of water and wastewater services by Uisce Éireann, with our primary function being to provide clean drinking water to customers and to treat and return wastewater safely to the environment. To deliver this, we work closely with our economic regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, our environmental regulator, the Environment Protection Agency, and with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and all local authorities in the development of a number of strategy, planning and investment processes.

Uisce Éireann’s strategic funding plan and capital investment plan set out our ambition for the building, repair and upgrading of Uisce Éireann water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants, and water and sewer networks. From 2020 to 2024, we are investing €5.35 billion to improve and deliver the infrastructure required to make this country not only competitive internationally, but also to improve the quality of life for its citizens and to protect the environment.

We look at national data, policies and plans that have a direct impact on where investment should be prioritised or which have a dependence on the public water and wastewater infrastructure, such as housing, job growth and environmental policies, and climate action plans.

To this end, Uisce Éireann published its first national water resources plan for the long-term, safe and sustainable water supply needs of the country over the next 25 years. The plan is underpinned by four regional water resources plans for the north west, south west, south east and east and midlands. Making progress in housing connections is also a top priority for Uisce Éireann. A dedicated team and initiatives have been put in place to support our role in the delivery of the Government’s Housing for All programme. The delivery of water and wastewater capacity is vital to support economic growth locally and nationally. Supporting the Department of Rural and Community Development, we are working to deliver specific actions under the Our Rural Future and Our Living Islands policies. Our key action within Our Rural Future is to invest in infrastructure, including water and wastewater infrastructure, to support the development of rural towns and villages.

In 2022, Uisce Éireann delivered €1.06 billion in capital expenditure delivering water and wastewater projects and programmes across the country, prioritising the most urgent improvements in water quality, wastewater capacity and compliance, leakage reduction and sustainability. In 2023, this investment will rise to €1.2 billion. Our operational expenditure is also an investment in the operation and maintenance of existing assets in towns and villages. We are currently investing €250 million per year to reduce leakage on our water network, with leakage rates decreasing from almost 46% in 2018 to 37% at the end of 2022.

Additionally, the small towns and villages growth programme was established in direct response to requirements for rural support and is captured in Our Rural Future and Uisce Éireann’s capital investment plan 2020 to 2024. This is a national programme to cater for growth in smaller towns and villages with existing Uisce Éireann infrastructure. Local authorities support the programme by identifying and prioritising communities in need of investment. Uisce Éireann has announced a total of 50 projects to date to progress across the country. Uisce Éireann is progressing a number of initiatives to support the supply and maintenance of water services to islands that have public water and wastewater infrastructure. In line with the recently published Our Living Islands national policy, we are undertaking feasibility analyses in a number of areas which will inform the direction of future investment. The provision of water services on some of the islands presents a challenge due to limited water availability, environmental constraints and the logistical challenges of servicing infrastructure not on the mainland. We may need to find alternative solutions. Nevertheless, Uisce Éireann has already carried out a number of improvement works to water infrastructure on a number of the islands.

We thank committee members for the invitation to meet this morning and are happy to respond to as many questions as possible. We will of course take away more specific queries and respond to the committee by means of follow-up correspondence.