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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for providing an opportunity to give an overview of the Environmental Protection Agency's latest report, Urban Wastewater Treatment in 2018, which was published yesterday. The EPA issues this report on wastewater each year, as referred to by the Deputy, and it is an important piece of work. The EPA plainly sets out the significant issues in our wastewater sector. Many of these issues are long-standing. Without Irish Water acting to address these issues we would be in a worse situation.

The EPA reports on its assessment of monitoring results from cities, towns and urban communities as reported to the EPA by Irish Water and on enforcement activities carried out by the EPA during 2018.

I welcome the elements of this report that show Irish Water is making progress in many areas. The EPA has found the number of priority urban areas, that is, the areas where wastewater treatment most needs to improve, is down from 132 in 2017 to 120 in 2018, to which the Deputy referred.

In 2016, the EPA reported 44 towns and villages were discharging raw sewage — this is an unacceptable legacy of past underinvestment. However, by 2018 this has now reduced to 36. The majority of the remaining areas will have appropriate treatment by 2021.

As the EPA has pointed out, however, much more needs to be done. Wastewater is one of the main threats to the quality of our rivers, lakes and estuaries and it contributed to poor quality bathing water at three beaches in 2018, although the number was down from six the previous year.

Ireland's shortcomings in this area are not a surprise. In March, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that Ireland was in breach of the wastewater treatment directive. The judgment listed specifically 28 towns and villages that need upgrades. The EPA report shows that out of the 169 large urban areas in Ireland, 21 areas failed to comply with the EU's legally binding standards for the treatment of urban wastewater in 2018.

As I stated at the outset, Irish Water is now addressing these issues. In the period 2018 to 2024, Irish Water intends to carry out upgrades and improvements at these urban wastewater treatment plants to help ensure that treatment levels and capacity comply with the requirements of the urban waste water treatment directive.

In more general terms, our River Basin Management Plan 2018-2021 outlines what Ireland is doing to protect and improve all of our waters. Among a broad suite of measures, the plan sets out significant investment by Irish Water in urban wastewater projects. In support of this, the Government has approved the Irish Water Strategic Funding Plan 2019-2024, comprising of a €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and assets and €4.9 billion in operating costs. In 2018, Irish Water invested €230 million in wastewater infrastructure. Further to this, Irish Water has stated that its investment in wastewater infrastructure is to increase to almost €400 million in 2020, as the amount invested in upgrading wastewater infrastructure matches the investment in drinking water for the first time. This will make a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs and bringing us into compliance with the urban wastewater directive.

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