Mr. Niall Gleeson:

I am CEO of Uisce Éireann and I am joined by my colleagues, Yvonne Harris, housing programme director, and Maria O’Dwyer, head of asset management. I thank members for the invitation to address them on the area of infrastructure provision and residential developments. Our opening statement is quite lengthy, so I might summarise it to some degree.

Uisce Éireann’s strategic funding plan and capital investment plan sets out our ambition for building, repair and upgrading of Uisce Éireann water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants and water and sewage networks. We will invest €5.3 billion in water services from 2020 to 2024, with significant benefits for the economy and the environment. Last year, we invested €1 billion in capital expenditure, which was first time we went over the €1 billion mark.

We are committed to supporting the Government's Housing for All plan. In September 2021, Uisce Éireann established a cross-functional housing programme to ensure that we are supporting housing delivery in an efficient and timely manner. Since the programme's establishment, we have completed the publication of water and wastewater capacity registers on our website and established a self-lay in public roads programme as well as an experience-based contractor accreditation scheme.

In 2022, Uisce Éireann processed pre-connection inquiries associated with more than 116,000 units and issued connection offers associated with nearly 37,000 homes. We enabled 4,250 connections to the water services infrastructure associated with more than 25,000 homes and we see all of these numbers increasing in 2023.

Successful, timely delivery of water and wastewater infrastructure and services for housing by Uisce Éireann has a critical dependence on the effective operation of the planning system. A well-functioning end-to-end planning system is the backbone of social and economic development.

Uisce Éireann urgently calls for, first, the prioritisation of key enabling strategic infrastructure that will facilitate other development, including the delivery of housing. This would be a form of a triage system when entering the planning system. Second, Uisce Éireann calls for it to be given appropriate powers to complete its functions, particularly when it comes to compulsory purchase orders, taking in charge and exempted developments. These powers currently rest with the local authority under the draft planning and development Bill. Third, Uisce Éireann is required to apply for a number of different licenses as part of the planning process. At present, these license consent processes do not happen concurrently and must often be obtained sequentially, resulting in delays, creating additional potential for a judicial review challenge and putting public funds at risk.

Sustained investment in water and wastewater infrastructure is critical if we are to ensure that Ireland has a sustainable drinking water supply and a fit for purpose wastewater treatment system to support housing growth now and into the future. We are supporting strategic infrastructure projects nationwide, for example, the recently completed Cork lower harbour project, the recently launched Arklow wastewater treatment plant and the Athlone main drainage project.

Yet, there are a number of critical national infrastructure projects that must be delivered urgently if we are continue building homes and catering for growth across Ireland. One is the water supply project - eastern and midlands region. It is essential to meet the domestic and commercial needs of more than 40% of Ireland's population up to 2050 and beyond. Currently a single source, namely, the River Liffey, supplies 85% of the water requirements for 1.7 million people in the greater Dublin area. This overdependence on one source combined with limited supply availability means, quite simply, we lack the capacity for growth and resilience to provide the level of service we should all expect from our water supplies in a modern European economy.

Another project, namely, the greater Dublin drainage project, involves the development of a new regional wastewater treatment facility to serve the growing population of north Dublin and parts of surrounding counties of Kildare and Meath. This project has experienced significant delays progressing through the consenting process. It is urgently needed and must be delivered without further delay.

Uisce Éireann remains fully committed to delivering best-in-class water services and infrastructure for Ireland now and into the future. Despite challenges, with the continued support of Government and our stakeholders, including elected representatives, we are confident we will continue to deliver critical water and wastewater infrastructure to support the public policy objectives on housing, climate action and economic development.

I thank members for the invitation. We welcome the opportunity to brief them on our important work and we are happy to take any questions.