John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Deputy inquired with regard to the capital provision of €500 million. In the context of the water services investment programme, some 150 schemes are currently in progress. Of these, 90 are wastewater schemes. It is expected that 40 schemes will be completed this year. Of these, 30 are wastewater schemes. It is anticipated that construction will commence on some 50 new schemes. However, when these schemes were originally planned, some €560 million was made available. As the Deputy is aware, the amount had to be reduced but we continue to make good progress. It is anticipated that such progress will continue into 2010 and beyond. Up to 160 schemes will be in progress at the end of this year.

As a result of our EU commitments, we were obliged to move rapidly in respect of the provision of wastewater treatment plants. Since 2000, the Exchequer has spent €2.5 billion on the provision of wastewater infrastructure alone and some 144 major schemes have been completed in the interim. These schemes include the construction of very large wastewater treatment plants in Dublin - to which the Deputy referred and with which I am extremely familiar - Cork, Limerick, Galway, Wexford, Drogheda and Dundalk. New wastewater treatment facilities were also provided in many other smaller urban areas. In addition, some 105 wastewater schemes were provided under the serviced land initiative. The latter has been discontinued in light of the changed housing market.

Good progress has been made. The Deputy's point with regard to the delivery of infrastructure was highlighted elsewhere in recent times. Proposals on how we might invest pension funds in respect of the provision of infrastructure would give rise to a number of advantages. Wastewater treatment plants were specifically mentioned in this regard. The advantage of such investment is that it is off balance sheet and there is a great deal to be said for it.

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