Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and providing an opportunity to comment on the EPA's latest report, "Ireland's Environment 2020". This important statement on the condition of our national environment brings together key data and assessment from right across the spectrum of the EPA's work.

This report includes an assessment of the water quality of our rivers, lakes, canals, groundwaters, estuaries and coastal waters. The EPA sets out in stark terms the present and future challenges we face as a country and as a society. Yet, it also points the way forward with practical and positive, albeit not painless, actions that must now be taken to address these issues. The EPA report is especially significant now and will give practical orientation to the opportunities presented by major new policy initiatives and a new programme for Government with strong commitments on climate, water and biodiversity.

If we are to meet the challenge highlighted in the report, it is now important that we achieve cross-sectoral and broad societal agreement for the necessary actions that the EPA says will protect and improve our water quality. We will be able to reverse the trends of recent years but to do so, we will need to coordinate our collective effort across a range of sectors. Foremost among these many efforts will be a continued substantial investment to improve waste water treatment and a renewed resolve to reduce nutrients lost from agricultural land. Many of the actions now needed to protect and improve water quality will also provide helpful co-benefits in climate change mitigation and in the enrichment of Ireland's biodiversity.

The Government, like the EPA, is eager to see faster progress and consequently has put a priority on funding Irish Water's capital investment programme. In budget 2021, a significant sum of €1.4 billion was announced for investment in water services. In response to the EPA's call for action, we will continue to build new and upgraded services including urban waste water treatment plants and collection systems, which will eliminate raw sewage discharges and improve treatment. This will be achieved by funding Irish Water's water services capital investment plan to deliver the full €8.5 billion funding package committed to in Project Ireland 2040. We will expand environmental programmes, including the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, to work locally with communities, farmers, farm advisers and the food industry, to improve nutrient management on farms to reduce nutrients lost to water. We will continue to improve the protection of our pristine waters learning from initiatives such as the Blue Dots programme and the EU LIFE Waters of Life project, and we will launch a new revised and strengthened river basin management plan in 2022, drawing on a collaborative approach between all stakeholders. With these actions, I look forward to co-operating across the Government, with key stakeholders and with the public on these complex and interrelated issues.

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