Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Housing Delivery, Service and Supply: Discussion
2:00 am
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
I thank Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks for their presentations. To start with Uisce Éireann and to follow on around the capital requirements to meet increased housing delivery, my understanding is that Uisce Éireann has been raising the need for that additional capital from as far back as January or February of last year in some forms. Can the representatives give us any indication of where they think the discussions with the Government and the relevant Departments are, on what is likely to be the situation for next year and the year after? Can they explain to the committee why a multi-annual funding commitment over the period to 2030 would be crucial? That is the first question.
Second, Uisce Éireann has repeatedly made a very reasonable case for critical infrastructure to be prioritised in the planning system, something ESB Networks and others have also rightly called for. Uisce Éireann has also made the case for parallel planning and consenting processes. Is there any indication that the Government is responding positively to those requests? Obviously, they would also be key in terms of accelerating the delivery of some of that key critical infrastructure.
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