Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I had my Flavahan's porridge this morning which was oatily delicious. I have it every morning. I am certainly familiar with Bunmahon, a beautiful part of the country.

The primary responsibility for the monitoring, management protection and improvement of water quality is assigned to local authorities under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts and related legislation. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level, including investment in wastewater treatment plants and returning wastewater safely to the environment in an efficient and sustainable manner. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is the key statutory body for investigating complaints of pollution and the enforcement, both directly and through oversight of Irish Water and local authorities, of environmental legislation in Ireland, including compliance relating to licensed urban wastewater discharges.

As a country, we have much more work to do to bring our water services infrastructure up to standard. In this regard, as part of budget 2022, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, secured funding of €1.57 billion to support water services. This includes €1.459 billion - €629 million in current funding and €830 million in capital funding - in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water. The overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, support improved water supplies throughout Ireland, including in rural areas, and support a range of programmes delivering improved quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area. It is key to addressing Ireland's shortcomings in water and wastewater infrastructure, including compliance with the urban wastewater treatment directive.

Regarding the issues along Waterford's Copper Coast, I understand that Irish Water has met members of the local community to discuss their concerns with the existing wastewater infrastructure in Bunmahon, with Irish Water committing to review the operation of the current treatment system and to outline its plans for the Bunmahon agglomeration.

In playing a key role in the delivery of water and wastewater infrastructure to meet housing and development needs, addressing legacy infrastructure deficiencies and working to improve compliance with environmental standards for schemes across the country, I welcome Irish Water's engagement with the local community on this issue. However, we all know it will not be possible to fix all our infrastructural deficits overnight and this work will require significant and sustained capital investment. The Deputy painted a picture of a very challenging situation, particularly in summertime when the population increases fourfold due to visitors. Any treatment system has to reflect the population equivalent in terms of the level of treatment. The fact that it is not included in the capital investment plan, as the Deputy said, needs to be reviewed by Irish Water. It certainly sounds to me to be an issue of urgent priority which needs to be addressed. I will take it back to the Minister and make representations to Irish Water on the Deputy's behalf as well.

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