Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to highlight the needs of the people of Kerry who have been left behind since Irish Water took charge of much of the water and sewerage schemes in the county in 2014. I am glad the Lough Guitane water treatment plant, which services Killarney and Tralee, is now operational. The Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, attended the official opening ceremony yesterday. That is one good story but we have a lot of bad stories in Kerry.

Irish Water took over the water services in 2014. It keeps telling us it is only responsible for the maintenance and upgrading of sewerage and water facilities that are already in existence. It is not concerned with all of the places, particularly the small villages, that have no treatment plant. Kilcummin is one such village. It was promised a sewerage scheme in 2004. Funding was approved for the project in 2008 but then it was withdrawn. The road leading up to the village is in a shocking state. I appeal to the Minister to ensure the Kilcummin sewerage scheme is on the investment programme for next year. There is a nursing home in the village which needs to expand. The road needs to be serviced or upgraded and the people in the catchment area need a proper treatment plant to protect the Deenagh river and the lakes of Killarney.

Kenmare urgently needs an upgrade. A planning application for 50 houses was granted but the developer was told that not one house can be built until the treatment plant is expanded. There are many group water schemes in Kerry that are ready to be taken in charge. The elderly people in such schemes can no longer keep them going but Irish Water does not have the funding to take these schemes in charge and says it is not responsible for doing so. I ask the Minister to consider this issue and to work with Irish Water and the local authorities on it, particularly in Kerry where there are many group water schemes waiting to be taken in charge. We also need funding for the provision of new group water schemes, new water mains extensions and new group sewerage schemes.

The people of Castleisland have been waiting since 1986 for improvement works to the treatment plant and for an extension of the sewerage scheme to the people of the Black Road, Tully Road, Brosna Road and College Road. There are over 120 houses with septic tanks in the town of Castleisland. The village of Scartaglin was number three on a priority list in 2007 or 2008. The former Deputy and councillor, Tom Fleming, and I worked very hard in the Killarney electoral area to ensure it would progress up the list. It was at number three but where is it now? It is not on any list, programme or plan. The people of Scartaglin are deserving of a treatment plant. The village of Currow, a few miles from Scartaglin, comprises a council housing estate, a shop, a school and all that a small village should have but there is no treatment plant. What is happening? Each week, the sewage is being drawn into the treatment plant in Killarney, which is not acceptable in this day and age. Currow needs its own plant. The village of Beaufort is also awaiting a treatment plant. Many villages and communities in Kerry cannot expand or progress without a treatment plant. I ask the Minister to work with Irish Water. Many people have free water, free sewage treatment and free everything and the people in rural areas are entitled to these services as much as the people in Dublin 4 and other urban areas. I appeal to the Minister to address this anomaly because the people are entitled; they are paying their taxes, including property tax. The people of Glenflesk, Currans, Cromane, Cloghane, Castlecove, Caherdaniel, Boolteens, Ballyfinnane, Astee, Templenoe, Knockanure, Lauragh and many other places are entitled to treatment plants. They are being left behind but not alone are they being left behind in terms of sewerage facilities, many of them cannot get funding for group water schemes either. Everyone is entitled to a clear, safe and plentiful water supply. We must address this issue. We need a plan. The Department must work with the local authorities because these communities cannot be left behind.

Deputy O'Dowd, when he was Minister of State, was in Tralee to announce Irish Water's takeover of water services. I told him that we would prefer to keep the existing regime under the local authority but that was not to be. I remember asking Deputy O'Dowd to ensure that the provision of water would be kept under the thumb of the Minister. There is now a split or a divide, with one group of people being looked after and others being left behind. The people in the rural towns and villages and rural areas are being left behind. Irish Water is saying that it is only responsible for ensuring that existing water and sewerage facilities are maintained to a high standard but that it is not responsible for providing any new services. That is the anomaly that must be addressed.

In 2008 the excellent director of finance in Kerry County Council, Mr. John O'Connor, made the case to councillors that levies would have to be charged to new planning applicants for the provision of sewerage and water services. The levies that were put in place were exorbitant. The justification for the levies was that the council would be fined €500,000 each year until all treatment plants were brought up to scratch. Ten years later and the people of Kilcummin still do not have a treatment plant. They do not have a road either. The road will not be resurfaced until the treatment plant is built. If the road had been done in 2004, when the need for the treatment plant was identified, it would still have to be done again now. Imagine what the people of Kilcummin have suffered for the last 14 or 15 years. The road is terrible. It is like the bed of a river. I appeal to the Minister to ensure that funding is provided to Irish Water or to the local authority for the Kilcummin sewerage scheme next year. It is one of the most pressing issues in the county. All of the rural villages and small places to which I am referring are dying because planning permission for housing will not be granted in the absence of the facilities that are available to most urban dwellers. People in the rural areas are entitled to the very same facilities.

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