Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:notes:

— the findings of the Environmental Protection Agency Report ‘Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2017’ include:

— the waste water treatment at 28 of Ireland’s 179 large urban areas failed to meet European Union standards;

— raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people in 38 towns and villages flows into the environment every day;

— waste water is one of the main threats to the quality of our rivers, lakes and estuaries;

— waste water contributed to poor quality bathing water at six beaches in 2017; and

— coming into contact with inadequately treated waste water poses a health risk;

— many small rural towns and villages and a number of large coastal urban centres are currently without any effective waste water treatment system;

— the lack of any effective waste water treatment systems in such small villages and towns is halting sustainable development and increasing planning refusals by An Bord Pleanála due to existing waste water constraints;

— many small rural towns and villages have developed plans and have designs in place for the construction of waste water treatment systems but are unable to proceed due to a lack of funding; and

— the 2016 launch of the National Taking in Charge Initiative (NTICI) for residential estates, to support and accelerate overall national action on the taking in charge process for housing estates, including estates with developer-provided water services infrastructure;

further notes that:

— since the transfer of water services to Irish Water there is no statutory obligation on Irish Water to maintain, repair or replace combined drain water connections to domestic premises that were previously maintained, repaired or replaced by the water services authority;

— the refusal to maintain such combined drains causes huge difficulties within a row of houses where a blockage may occur in one particular property and responsibility falls on that property owner for repairs on behalf of all property owners served by the drain, thereby causing financial difficulties for that homeowner, and health and safety difficulties if a delay arises in repairing the combined drain;

— such difficulties did not arise when water services authorities maintained such combined drains;

— Irish Water, in its Water Services Strategic Plan, has noted the management of sewage effluent from combined drains during times of periodic flooding as a key challenge; and

— grant payments issued by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to group water schemes, private well owners and all local authorities to administer the Rural Water Programme amounted to €70,116,335 in 2011, but had dropped to €20,902,851 for 2016; and

calls on the Government to:

— increase and escalate investment in Irish Water to upgrade deficient waste water treatment systems, prevent pollution and avoid financial penalties;

— implement a capital investment programme to provide specifically for the development of waste water treatment systems in rural towns and villages to allow for sustainable development to continue;

— review the service level agreement between Irish Water and local authorities to provide a statutory mandate to Irish Water to repair and restore combined drains systems that were previously under the remit of local authorities;

— expedite progress by local authorities and relevant stakeholders, including Irish Water, in addressing a build-up of pending cases relating to housing developments not yet taken in charge under measure two of the NTICI;

— continue improving how treatment systems are operated, managed and maintained;

— address information shortfalls on the risks to marine life and fishing stock, and the condition of public sewers; and

— urgently prioritise full restoration of the funding provided for group water schemes and private well owners to levels commensurate or above the funding provided during the 2011-2016 period.

I am sharing with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae who was trying to give the Acting Chairman meaningful and constructive advice but ní raibh sé ag éisteacht. Bhíomar ag iarraidh cabhrú leis.

See this speech in context