Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion for debate in the House tonight. High-quality, sustainable water services are a fundamental necessity for our citizens and environment and we do not distinguish between rural or urban areas when talking about the application of those principles. The motion highlights some significant issues of interest and concern around the need for investment in rural water services which are shared by the Government.

The motion calls for a series of action across a number of areas, most of which are already being addressed. In many instances the Government is going beyond what is sought in the motion.

However, there are elements within the motion that convey an impression that insufficient attention is being given to rural water services. I want to assure Deputies that this is not the case. A huge amount is being done and is being planned to be done in the future.

Overall though, the Government has no fundamental issue with the sentiment behind the motion and much of what it says. In these circumstances the Government will not be opposing or seeking to amend the motion just for the sake of It. I therefore want to advise the Deputies who proposed the motion, and the House, that the Government will not be voting against this motion tonight.

Nevertheless, in responding, I want to defend the commitment of the Government to supporting water services in rural areas. This commitment has been backed up by resources which have and will continue to increase year on year for the coming years. Over €8.5 billion is being spent on public water services under the national development plan over the next ten years. That is not in 2040, that is this year, next year and for the next ten years. It is happening now. This investment is tackling many of the issues identified in the motion.

Separately, investment under the multi-annual rural water programme is being increased. In addition, €31 million has been committed for the period 2018 to 2021 to address legacy issues associated with what is called developer provided infrastructure. This is mentioned specifically in the motion before the House.

I undertook a review of the annual group water scheme subsidies in late 2017. This was done in consultation with the National Federation of Group Water Schemes, the representative body of the group water sector. This resulted in significant improvements to subsidy levels that the Government put in place with effect from 1 January of this year. We increased the maximum subsidy per house in private group water schemes from €140 per household annually to €231. The maximum subsidy for public group water schemes also increased substantially. We changed the qualifying rules to allow for more expenditure to fall within the scope of the subsidy regime.

In April of this year I established a working group to conduct a review of the wider investment needs relating to rural water services. The group’s aim is to recommend measures to ensure an equality of outcome between those who receive water services from Irish Water and non-Irish Water customers. The terms of reference of the review provide for a two-strand approach. Strand 1 is considering the composition and distribution of funding for the multi-annual rural water programme from 2019 up to 2021. Strand 2 is considering the more complex, longer-focus issues surrounding the longer term future resourcing of the rural water sector.

The working group is currently finalising a report to me on strand 1 of its deliberations. This report will make recommendations on the measures to be funded for the next cycle of the rural water programme. This will include provisions in respect of water services to support rural development which are a focus of the motion. I expect to announce details before the end of November. As part of the new programme, I am also planning to implement improvements to the grants available to undertake works on private wells and septic tanks. I expect that these will come into effect from January 2019.

While we are looking to the future we also have to support rural water services in the present. In September this year, I announced capital grant supports totalling €20 million for 2018 under the rural water programme. This funding is enabling development and improvement work to be undertaken on group water schemes and group sewerage schemes in rural areas. It also provides grants for households to upgrade private wells and septic tanks. In addition to these capital grants, €24 million is being provided in current funding in 2018 for the subsidies to support the delivery of rural water services that I mentioned already.

The motion makes a claim that grant payments issued by my Department to group water schemes, private well owners and all local authorities to administer the rural water programme dropped between 2011 and 2016 but a good deal of investment was made in the mid to late-2000s and addressed a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2002 which found Ireland in breach of its obligations under the drinking water directive. However, looking at the period between 2011 and 2017, a combined total of €273 million was invested in capital and current funding directly related to rural water services. This does not include further spending by Irish Water that benefitted villages and towns. The Government is increasing this investment further. The annual allocation to the rural water programme has increased from €20 million in 2018 to €23 million next year. Under the national development plan this is set to increase to €25 million each year in both 2020 and 2021.

The motion makes extensive reference to the findings of the Environmental Protection Agency report Urban Waste Water Treatment produced in 2017. This latest EPA report is based on the assessment of effluent monitoring results from 1,100 wastewater treatment plants reported to the EPA by Irish Water and on enforcement activities carried out by the EPA during 2017. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level, including investment in wastewater treatment plants, and Irish Water’s primary function is to provide clean, safe drinking water to customers and to treat and return wastewater safely to the environment.

Following actions taken by Irish Water, the EPA has found that the number of priority urban areas where wastewater treatment needs to improve is down to 132 from 148 in 2016. Of 44 towns and villages where raw sewage was being discharged in 2016, six are now connected to treatment plants. The remaining 38 towns and villages, with a population equivalent of 88,000 people, will be connected by 2021.

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