Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Murphy, for sharing time to make a few points. I appreciate some of the concerns expressed by members of the Rural Independent Group and other Members. Many of the concerns expressed are real, honest and come from first-hand experience of the problems faced by people on the ground in our constituencies. I commend them on raising these concerns. However, I do not want to focus my attention on simply highlighting what needs to be done to fix these problems as I believe that we on this side of the House are very much aware of how to resolve the legacy problems with our water system and, in fact, according to the EPA report referenced, we are very much on the way to achieving that between now and 2021; instead, I want to take this opportunity to illuminate a few examples of where our action has been successful in addressing the types of concerns raised.

I can testify wholeheartedly to the positive impact of Irish Water's investment in wastewater treatment in my own constituency and how that positive impact is being felt by communities in counties Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal as new wastewater plants have been built and are in the process of being upgraded. Since 2014 Irish Water has upgraded or built new wastewater treatment plants in 55 locations throughout the country, including 12 towns where raw sewage was going directly into the water. There are also plans with funding in place that are progressing to resolve the problems at the remaining 38 locations mentioned earlier. One of the locations listed was Bundoran, County Donegal. A €9 million investment was made there by Irish Water in 2015 and, today, this new facility has stopped the equivalent of more than 66,000 wheelie bins of raw sewage from entering the sea every day. This must be applauded and recognised. Irish Water is also investing €16 million in upgrading the Grange, Strandhill and Tubbercurry wastewater treatment plants in County Sligo and it has carried out rehabilitation works on the main sewer line in Sligo town in works costing €9 million. For decades, nothing was done by previous Governments in this area. These new and upgraded plants will improve the environment, support tourism and, in many cases, build capacity for new homes and businesses. Again, this work must be recognised.

It has been brought to my attention on countless of occasions that there is a need for increased funding for Irish Water, which is something I agree with 100%. However, I must remind the House of Fianna Fáil's shameful move to the side of populist politics when, in 2014, and subsequently in 2016, it insisted on the abolition of the water charge regime - a minimal water charge that more than 70% of people were paying. Because of this political game between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, unfortunately, Irish Water now has to compete with our schools, hospitals and the Garda for funding.

This is the reality of the situation and, as such, a number of the projects mentioned tonight must wait to be upgraded until the funding is available. Nonetheless, Irish Water is prioritising those locations that are not compliant with European standards under the urban wastewater treatment directive and it will then focus on those locations with no treatment of raw sewage. The EPA's annual urban wastewater treatment report points to the progress made by Irish Water in 2017. The utility increased expenditure by 25% to €215 million last year to ensure the development and delivery of solutions to support the safe return of wastewater to the environment from almost 1.1 million homes throughout Ireland after it has travelled through 30,000 km of public sewers and been treated at 1,100 wastewater treatment plants. Irish Water is increasing investment in wastewater infrastructure, year on year, and has planned to increase spending on wastewater projects in the existing capital investment plan. Many wastewater projects are currently in the design and planning stage and expenditure during this stage is significantly lower than during construction. Consequently, there will be a large increase in wastewater expenditure in the years up to the end of 2021, which will, hopefully, get us some way to addressing all of the areas of concern that have been highlighted this evening, including in counties Tipperary and Kerry and many other areas.

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