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

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for the follow-up questions. I will make a couple of points and will come back to his specific questions in a moment.

Irish Water has achieved a 44% reduction in the amount of untreated and inadequately treated wastewater being discharged to our rivers, lakes and seas since it was established in 2014. It is doing good work in this regard. If we look at the 44 problem areas that we have been talking about, 14 of those areas already have had the works completed, 18 are under construction and we intend to get 12 through planning permission in 2020.

Of course, when the EPA talks about delays, it is fair to point out that not all delays are the fault of Irish Water or because something has gone wrong at that end. There are elements, such as the planning process, which it cannot control in terms of timelines etc. It cannot address every delay but it is trying to expedite this.

I cannot write a blank cheque in terms of future funding needs that might arise out of matters that have not been considered but it is good to note the political support that we have here. On a related point, yesterday we saw planning permission come through for the greater Dublin drainage scheme. It is a significant investment to treat wastewater. Then, regrettably, we saw the housing and water spokesperson for Fianna Fáil come out against that project. On the same day that the EPA landed this report about how wastewater is flowing into our environment and into oceans untreated and how we need to invest in it, and that we get planning permission for a much-needed investment in treating our wastewater, unfortunately, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson for water came out against it. My fear is that it is because of local constituency concerns and not in the national interest. I have not had a chance to hear the Deputy clarify that it is not a local concern. We need to be clear here as a body politic. As the Oireachtas, we must invest in wastewater treatment. We must have new plants funded, planned for, designed and come into operation and we need to make sure there is the political will and courage to do that, even though it might rub up against some local interests or local concerns. We cannot let them stand in the way of protecting the environment but also our precious water resource.

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