Mr. Niall Gleeson:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the invitation to attend today's meeting. I am CEO of Uisce Éireann and I am joined today by my colleagues, Sean Laffey and Maria O’Dwyer.

We welcome the committee giving the critical role of water services infrastructure high priority in its work programme. Uisce Éireann has consistently stated that progressing water and wastewater infrastructure is crucial to economic growth and development, protecting the environment and the provision of much-needed housing, and we hope to be able to provide the committee with a deeper understanding of our priorities in this regard.

As Ireland’s national publicly owned water services utility, we are responsible for the delivery of secure, safe and sustainable public water services, enabling the Irish economy to grow and communities across Ireland to thrive. To do this, we work closely with our economic regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, our environmental regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, as well as with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, local authorities and other State bodies. As this is our first meeting with this committee, we have provided an additional background note that sets out more detail on our establishment and functions.

The scale of what we do is enormous and complex, with a nationwide team of more than 4,000 people directly involved in delivering essential water and wastewater services to more than 4.2 million people every day, as well as an additional 6,000 people in downstream support services and activities. We invest an estimated €2.5 billion per annum in operational and capital expenditure. This includes the construction, management, maintenance and upgrading of more than 8,000 water and wastewater treatment plants and assets and some 90,000 km of pipe network. Our footprint on the Irish economy is also significant. We work with more than 2,000 Irish and international businesses and suppliers to deliver our work programmes, generating economic opportunities nationwide.

Of interest to today’s meeting is our capital investment, particularly in the delivery of national water and wastewater infrastructure. From 2020 to 2024, we invested more than €5 billion in upgrading and improving water and wastewater services infrastructure and assets to improve the quality of life of the people of Ireland, protect our environment and grow our economy. For 2025 to 2029, our strategic funding plan sets out a funding requirement €10.3 billion of investment for capital infrastructure and assets. However, sustained ongoing investment will be required for many decades to offset the years of underinvestment in water services.

Legislative and regulatory compliance has underpinned our investment and delivery to date. Through our governance, risk management and regulated approach, we are required to ensure the resources we have available are directed where they are needed most. We are obliged to prioritise public health and environmental needs during the regulated capital investment cycles, followed closely by consideration of level of service drivers relating to the existing customer base. Significant progress has been made, but with changing regulations and standards, much more investment is needed to keep up with the demands of a growing population and economy. To move beyond compliance in our capital investment and achieve the strategic growth ambitions for the country, we must collectively work to address barriers and improve systems and processes to create a robust but dynamic approach to infrastructure delivery.

The committee, we understand, is seeking meaningful debate around forward planning, future investment, capital delivery and tackling barriers. Uisce Éireann has identified and consistently highlighted our three key priorities for success. They are investment certainty, effective planning and consenting and prioritising strategic projects. We must be supported and funded to provide capacity for growth in the areas where it is going to deliver against national objectives and enable communities to thrive. Uisce Éireann's Strategic Funding Plan 2025-2029 includes an estimated level of investment required based on the Housing for All programme.

The Government has put forward a new commitment to build 300,000 new homes by 2030. We estimate that to support Government in realising this new proposed target, an additional ring-fenced funding stream of €2 billion will be required between 2025 and 2030 to deliver the water services capacity needed for housing growth across the country, along with key enabling policy, planning and resourcing. The additional funding being sought to meet these new housing targets would focus on ensuring the appropriate water and wastewater infrastructure is in place to facilitate new housing in those areas that have been prioritised for new development under the national planning framework and is co-ordinated with other utility and service providers to ensure investment delivers capacity where it is needed.

We have a strong record of delivery but for this to continue, having certainty around Government's investment commitments is critical. Many of our stakeholders across the supply chain have highlighted the challenges in being able to meet demands without clarity as to our funding programme and the provision of once-off investment. Additionally, the annual allocation of funding to Uisce Éireann creates further uncertainty year-on-year. An effective solution is to align our funding allocation to our overall investment programme through a multi-annual funding structure so we can better plan and deliver long-term projects, maximise efficiencies and provide greater certainty to our supply chain.

We will need to be able to deliver new infrastructure and upgrade our existing assets to keep pace with growth and increasing compliance standards. This is not solely about funding. Delivering infrastructure will also require key enabling policy and legislative change. In general, it takes five to seven years to get through all stages of a straightforward capital project. However, it can take seven to ten years for more complex projects and more than ten years for very complex ones. Reforms to planning and consenting regulations are needed urgently to ensure we can deliver vital infrastructure efficiently and continue to grant connections for new homes and businesses. The prioritisation of national strategic infrastructure through these processes would enable us to deliver on our mission and allow us to deliver local improvement schemes faster.

Communities throughout the country need critical water and wastewater infrastructure capacity and upgrades to ensure our towns and villages can remain viable places to live and work. It is incumbent on all bodies involved in delivering critical public infrastructure to work together towards the common goal of providing Ireland's communities, businesses and environment with better, safer and more reliable essential services. In the meantime, our water services infrastructure continues to struggle in keeping pace with population, housing and commercial growth. The eastern and midlands region, especially the greater Dublin area, is facing serious water supply and wastewater capacity challenges. These are not just Dublin problems. They have significant implications for Ireland's competitiveness and population. The region and counties therein are home to a large number of our citizens and are a base for economic activity, and they are growing.

Current and future social and economic development in the greater Dublin area and the provision of much-needed new housing is reliant on connections to the water and wastewater networks that can only be guaranteed if there is certainty around the process and timeline for the urgent delivery of the water supply project and the greater Dublin drainage scheme. There is little time to overcome the series of barriers and changes needed to unlock these strategic projects as we are already assessing connection applications to our networks on a case-by-case basis in the region. An urgent approach is needed. We cannot afford to have projects of critical public importance tied up for another decade. To achieve such an approach will require cross-party support that focuses attention on the common good. Uisce Éireann shares the Government’s ambition to deliver much-needed housing and the infrastructure that is required to facilitate its development. We have been engaging extensively with Government members and relevant Departments and are playing a full and active role in the new formations involved in infrastructure and housing delivery.

The picture we present today is challenging but we have solutions. Addressing the key enablers we have outlined here today will bring about a step change in how we deliver critical water services infrastructure to both meet national objectives and achieve Uisce Éireann’s ultimate mission, to provide the people of Ireland with the highest quality drinking water and ensure that wastewater is properly treated and safely returned to the environment. I thank the committee for the invitation to meet and extend our invitation for the committee to visit some of our strategic assets in the future. We look forward to the answering any questions members may have.