Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues and particularly Cait, our administrator, for bringing forward this motion regarding Irish Water. I recall when Irish Water was set up it sparked off one of the most controversial debates we had in this House for many years. I sat on the committee established to try to find a solution and an all-party agreement on the best way to move forward with the establishment of Irish Water. The outcome of the committee’s deliberation was that there should be no water charges, which effectively left the full cost of Irish Water to be borne by the taxpayer.

There is much debate in the House on housing and lack of supply, particularly for first-time buyers. I want to particularly congratulate the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, on the tremendous work he is doing to bring forward the affordable housing Bill and on his efforts to find a solution to the housing crisis.

Many town and villages around the country cannot be developed and cannot move forward due to the lack of infrastructure, particularly sewage treatment plants and water supply schemes. Unless this issue is dealt with there will always be a crisis in rural Ireland regarding housing supply.

A matter demanding immediate action, on which my colleague, Deputy Canney, touched, is the quality of sewage treatment plants provided by some developers building smaller schemes of houses. Currently, too many problems are arising from plants not properly built. We must have closer monitoring of the construction of these plants in the future. Irish Water needs to be involved from the start and ensure the treatment plants are built to a proper standard and specification and it should supervise the operation until completion, eventually taking them over and maintaining them. That is the way forward to increase housing supply in rural Ireland. I ask that this be seriously examined.

On the outskirts of Galway city there is a major pumping station at Merlin Park, which pumps effluent from Oranmore and the east side of the city to the main Mutton Island treatment plant in Galway Bay. This pumping station is now at full capacity, resulting in development being held up on the east side of the city and in the wider Oranmore area. The new county development plan, which will be going on display shortly, proposes a new town centre at Gurraun and a major development at Ardaun, with more than 500 houses being proposed in the lifetime of the new plan. None of this development will take place until this pumping station is upgraded.

Galway County Council in recent years has proposed a new waste water treatment system, which would cater for the major growth of the east side of the city, as Mutton Island is nearing capacity. This is another issue on which Deputy Canney touched. This treatment plant would cost in excess of €100 million but there has been no movement from Irish Water to progress this plant, which will take a long number of years to bring to fruition. Unless there is movement on this plant, no growth will be possible on the east side of the city, particularly in Oranmore, Athenry and surrounding areas for a few years.

Another issue I want to raise is the cost of group water schemes. I have been working on a scheme on the outskirts of the city that would cater for approximately five houses. We secured approval and a grant from the Minister of State’s Department, for which I am thankful, to cover some of the costs of the scheme. To keep the costs down, we got agreement from a landowner that the pipe can be laid inside the wall and a way leave provided so as not to have to dig up the road. This would drastically reduce the cost of the scheme but, unfortunately, Irish Water is insisting it does the contract for this scheme and the pipe must be laid on the roadway, which would drastically increase the cost, possibly making it unviable. By laying the pipe inside the wall, the cost would be in the region of €35,000 with the householder only having to pay a contribution of approximately €800 each. However, if the pipe was put down under the road, as insisted by Irish Water, the cost will be in excess of €100,000 and each household would have to pay in the region of €7,000 which is not realistic. This issue has to be examined to ensure that we get a proper water supply to local residents at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer and the householders.

Another issue that has been raised in my constituency office is the time it takes to get approval from Irish Water for a connection agreement in order that an applicant can apply for planning permission. It is taking up to five months before an agreement is reached and an applicant can lodge a planning application. This backlog needs to be dealt with. It is holding up development and housing. I the Minister of State to examine that.

Unless proper funding is put in place to construct infrastructure that is needed in our rural towns and villages, we will always have a housing shortage in rural Ireland.

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