John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I refer to the two major areas referred to in the Opposition motion, namely, roads and water supplies. By and large our national roads, other key strategic roads and public transport routes were kept open for traffic during the 24 days that the severe weather lasted. These are the facts. With careful driving, most of our secondary road network remained passable throughout the period, with limited exceptions especially in upland areas. It is certainly true that road and footpath conditions were difficult and dangerous where iced over but most roads were open and people were able to get about as they needed to, albeit perhaps more slowly.

The majority of bus services continued to operate in Dublin and nationwide, albeit with some cancellation or curtailments during the worst of the snow. The websites of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann provided regularly updated information on the impact on services. Irish Rail and Luas services were largely unaffected and some extra capacity was provided where possible. While there were delays and diversions at airports, the bulk of air services continued to operate. Where airports closed for short periods, it was for safety reasons to allow runways to be cleared of snow.

As part of the overall review of this recent experience, the Department of Transport will re-examine the priorities for gritting of roads. At present, the priorities are national roads and other roads that carry significant traffic volumes, including heavy goods vehicles and public transport services. More than 261 gritting trucks and 180 snow ploughs were deployed during the severe weather, often late at night and early morning. Approximately 60,000 tonnes of salt was spread over the period, more than the total annual average use in recent years. It will never be practical to grit all 96,000 kilometres of our public road network. At the moment we grit in excess of 14% of the network and it is unlikely to be justifiable to increase this substantially. What can be considered is whether there are ways of harnessing community effort, for example, by local authorities supplying salt to local communities and business districts. This would involve extra cost for the taxpayer at a time of severe constraints on public finances and may not be justified given the infrequent incidence of prolonged severe weather.

Local authorities typically maintain ten days' supply of salt compared to a supply of six days in the UK. This is for gritting the prioritised roads and it is more than adequate for most years. Cold spells of such a long duration are rare. Nevertheless, the costs and benefits of maintaining a supply to cover a longer period will be considered. This could involve more expenditure on salt supplies and salt barns to protect these supplies.

The possibility of introducing a statutory obligation on householders and businesses in urban areas to clear snow and ice from footpaths outside their premises without incurring any liability for negligence will be considered by the Department of Transport. While local authority staff were deployed to clear the busiest footpaths in urban areas, similar to the case of the national primary roads, it was not practical for them to clear all the footpaths in urban areas. As I stated at the time, I took advice from the Attorney General's office and I was informed that the idea that people could be held liable was not the case. If people made a reasonable effort to clear the footpath that was deemed to be fine. However, I understand people may need such a reassurance and for this reason it is something we could consider putting into legislation, which is the case in other jurisdictions whereby there is an obligation on the individual to clear in front of the house or business premises concerned. In other jurisdictions there is a series of rules that goes with severe weather, related to winter tyres and the wearing of chains. We are not used to it in this country and we do not have the legislative framework at this stage.

Another area for review is how public information was handled and what could be improved. Local authorities made very effective use of local and community radio. The public transport websites were regularly up to date. Some local authority websites provided detailed road gritting maps and the Road Safety Authority was very helpful in sending out targeted road safety messages. Best practice examples will be built upon and any information gaps or failures will be identified.

The Minister for Transport is conscious that both the National Roads Authority and local authorities have, and will continue to incur, significant additional expenditure as a direct result of the prolonged severe weather. I understand the Department of Transport does not have an emergency financial reserve. It will allocate all the road grants from the Exchequer for the coming year, more than €1.1 billion for national roads and approximately €411 million for local and regional roads. This is a significant investment in our transport infrastructure on behalf of the Government despite the difficult position of the Exchequer finances. Since 1997, more than €15 billion has been invested on national roads while some €5.7 billion has been contributed from the Exchequer for local and regional roads. Local authorities have been advised to set aside contingency sums within their overall roads funding for weather related works. In addition, local authorities and the National Roads Authority are calculating the additional costs involved over and above the normal provision. The Minister for Transport will assess this when finalising the allocation of regional and local road grants, as will the National Roads Authority in respect of national roads. It may be necessary to change priorities in the 2010 allocations, taking account of the available financial resources.

In the meantime, the Minister for Transport has issued a circular to local authorities requesting them to give priority to the repair of damage to regional and local roads caused by recent weather and authorising them to incur expenditure under certain grant categories of up to 25% of the amount allocated for these categories in April 2009, pending the allocation of the 2010 grants. He has also allowed the local authorities flexibility to revise to their 2010 restoration improvement programmes. The role of the Department of Transport in respect of local and regional roads is to provide grants to supplement road expenditure by local authorities. Some local authorities contribute as little as 5% to their total road expenditure from their own resources. Local authorities must prioritise increased expenditure from their own resources on their own roads this year in view of the current difficult situation.

In assessing the Irish response during the severe weather, it would be valuable to compare ourselves with other European countries. When one does so, the clear fact emerges that the disruption here was no worse, and in many cases much less severe, than in most other European countries, including those with regular experience of severe cold weather.

Significant traffic delays during snowfalls were a common experience throughout Europe, but unlike many other countries Ireland was able to keep the main arteries open. Airports were forced to close for periods during snowfall in every northern European country. While train services suffered limited delays in Ireland, they ground to a halt in many other European countries. Finally, the national co-ordinated response in January ensured that salt supplies were managed to keep main roads open, unlike other European countries. I can confirm this is the case following a meeting with ministerial colleagues recently. Given my interest in this issue, I asked my colleagues how they coped in such countries as the Netherlands, Germany and throughout Europe and we fared better. That is the fact of it and I would be pleased to subject the response to any objective review to establish how we managed our resources. Comparisons with what took place in 1982 are completely misplaced because we are in a far better position now to deal with these issues than we were at that time.

The severe weather episodes this winter have identified a number of weaknesses in our water services infrastructure. It has also shown that although we are fortunate to have an abundance of raw water in Ireland there is a lack of recognition of the real costs of treating this water and distributing this water to our homes and businesses. Some 1.6 billion litres of water are treated daily by local authorities. The low density and spatial distribution of the population means an extensive water network is required to distribute this water compared to many other countries. The public water services network amounts to more than 20,000 km of pipes, 8,000 km of which are in the greater Dublin area. This fact alone poses challenges for ongoing maintenance and management.

The recent prolonged period of particularly low temperatures caused difficulties for most local authorities in maintaining normal water supplies. The initial difficulties arose mainly from frozen supplies, but as the thaw set in further damage was caused by the moving ground. Typically, over a fortnight period, demand was up to 25% greater than maximum water treatment capacity in most authorities. This was as a result of both leakage and some consumer usage to avoid frozen domestic pipes. Excess demand resulted in the depletion of treated water at the reservoirs, which would normally provide two day storage which is the international norm. Demand has been progressively reducing through local authority efforts to find and fix leaks and manage supplies, and conservation by consumers. However, it could be a number of weeks or months, depending on local circumstances, before reservoirs are restored to pre-Christmas levels. It is a huge inconvenience to people and continues to be an inconvenience. I am well aware of this from my constituency, which has suffered from this problem. For that reason, we must act. I agree with all Deputies that it must be addressed and that is the reason we are reprioritising the funding. I will discuss that later in my contribution.

Some of the incidents of burst water pipes in housing estates across the country, which have caused significant hardship for householders, could have been avoided by proper workmanship and by developers ensuring that construction standards for new housing fully met basic requirements, such as those set down in my Department's "Recommendations for Site Development Works for Housing Areas",which include standards for the amount of cover to be laid over water pipes. Within the home, the building regulations provide that in bathrooms and kitchens, the cisterns, service pipe and fittings and any associated cold water pipes should be adequately protected against damage by frost.

When considering planning applications, local authorities generally attach conditions to ensure that these standards are properly adhered to by developers. Where it is found as part of the formal taking-in-charge of an estate or through assessments of compliance with a permission, that sub-standard piping or inadequate systems have been installed, the local authority should take enforcement action against the developer to bring the development up to the standard required by the planning permission and the building regulations. My Department will be writing to local authorities to remind them of the development management requirements under the building regulations and the site development guidelines and to impress on them the need for regular monitoring and enforcement to ensure a consistent application of these standards across residential developments.

These recent events arose from exceptional weather conditions. I commend the many local authority workers who responded to these events, working much longer hours, often in difficult conditions, to restore supplies and to find and fix leaks. While we rightly expect to turn on our taps to see good quality water flowing out, we often fail to appreciate the costs and complexity of providing this basic service, or that prolonged periods without water such as were experienced by some consumers this winter are indeed very rare. The difficulties do, however, point to the fine balance in water treatment capacity in some of our larger urban areas, and the extent and age of networks which already have an unacceptably high level of leakage in normal circumstances. This means that the infrastructure can be particularly vulnerable to disruption by severe weather events. Consequently, it is appropriate to consider the wider policy issues facing the Irish water sector, in tandem with efforts in the short term to return service to normal.

While €4.6 billion has been provided by the Exchequer to local authorities for investment in this sector over the past nine years, this was against the background of historical under-investment. In addition to catching up with these deficits, the sector has had to respond to the increased demand arising during a time of economic and population growth. This investment has led to significant progress. Substantial improvements have been made in the quality of water in the group water sector and some 480 major public water and waste water schemes have been completed since 2000. These schemes have delivered an increase in drinking water treatment capacity equivalent to the needs of a population of 855,000, and led to improvements in compliance with the requirements of the EU urban waste water treatment directive on secondary waste water treatment facilities, which now stands at 92% compared to 25% at the start of 2000.

With the adoption of the water framework directive, which emphasises a holistic approach to water resources management considering all aspects of the water cycle, the water services sector is entering into a new phase. The river basin management plans, required under this directive, are the key tool for the strategic planning of the range of actions required by the different actors to meet the objectives of the directive. These objectives are to prevent deterioration in the status of existing waters and, where feasible, to achieve at least "good status" for our waters by 2015. The evolving river basin management plans will be a critical underpinning of investment in the sector over the coming years. The renewed programme for Government has committed to maintaining record levels of investment in water, and this year some €508 million has been allocated, one of the few areas of capital provision which saw an increase over the 2009 provision. This is evidence of the Government's commitment to this important area in these difficult economic times.

We will ensure that these resources are targeted at priority areas from an economic and environmental standpoint. Last summer, as part of the development of the Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012, local authorities were asked to critically review their water services needs to ensure that contracts advanced and schemes in planning over this period meet the programme priorities, are affordable, offer value for money and are the most cost effective solutions for addressing problems. The programme priorities for the coming period include the need to mainstream and enhance water conservation activity, to address environmental and public health compliance issues, to support the overall strategic and sustainable development of gateways and hubs, and to support employment creation.

The Government's policy document "Building Ireland's Smart Economy - A Framework for Sustainable Economic Revival" and specific work by Forfás in 2008 in assessing the water and waste water needs of enterprise, provide the framework for prioritisation of the infrastructure required to support economic recovery. The work associated with the first cycle of river basin management plans and the priorities identified by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for monitoring and reporting on performance on both drinking water and waste water services, provide important inputs on the priorities for investment on environmental and public health grounds.

An important aspect of the new Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012, which will be launched towards the end of February, will be the targeting of investment on water conservation. It does not make economic sense to provide for further water supply capacity in areas with unacceptability high levels of unaccounted-for water; the leakage levels in some areas are stark and must be tackled. The €130 million we spent on various water conservation measures over the past seven years has made a considerable difference. This investment has mainly been focused on establishing water management systems and active leak detection and repair programmes. Local authorities have identified some €300 million in contracts to commence over the period 2010-2012. This investment is only part of the overall action on water conservation. I am grateful for the public response.

As I have only two minutes left, I will focus on water conservation. Water metering is a necessary component of ensuring that our valuable water resource is managed and used efficiently. I was pleased to hear Deputy Hogan voice Fine Gael support for this on national radio yesterday, albeit that it has taken Fine Gael 12 years to see the error of the decision it took in 1997 to scrap domestic water charges.

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