Mr. Sean Finlay:

I will turn to our recommendations on the reform of planning. Everybody knows we have serious delays in that regard. One of our recommendations is that all Government agencies and planning authorities should include infrastructure delivery as part of their key mission statements. That is not the case at the moment. Minor upgrading of existing facilities should be proportionate and should not require the same level of scrutiny as a multibillion euro project. There must be a much greater emphasis on the societal cost of capacity deficits. As parliamentarians, the members will unfortunately be well used to hearing this about project over-runs but, if you have a €1 billion project that is held up for ten years at an inflation rate of 7%, it will cost €2 billion, which is clearly not a desirable outcome.

We recommend some reforms to the legal system. We may be venturing into areas that are not within our immediate expertise because we are engineers but the system of environmental consent seems to be incredibly complex. It would greatly assist the courts if the Law Reform Commission could take a look at the environmental legislation with a view to some consolidation. We recommend that the commencement orders under the 2024 Act be introduced immediately. I am not aware of any move to introduce them quickly. Procedures should be simplified for small capital investment. Some members of this committee have already referred to that. The same approval process should not apply to a small wastewater treatment plant as applies to a large one serving 1 million people.

I will ask Mr. Leahy to say a few words about legal powers under the Water Services Act to address leakage on private property. It may seem very detailed but it has significant implications for rural water schemes.