Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill, which provides for the separation of Irish Water from Ervia and the establishment of a stand-alone national authority for water services. It is important to acknowledge, too, that the Bill offers a significant milestone in that it gives effect to the programme for Government commitment to retain Irish Water in public ownership as a national, stand-alone regulatory utility.

The separation of Irish Water from the Ervia Group is in the best strategic interest of water services and gas network businesses. That separation will be achieved by 1 January next year. The reality is that the past nine years have been nothing short of a disaster as we saw autonomy over water services taken from local authorities and officials given every conceivable hiding place when it came to accountability. Thus we have the disaster that is Irish Water and Ervia. Uisce Éireann must ultimately stands accountable as, otherwise, it will be no more than a stranglehold on an already struggling rural Ireland. Many Deputies here this evening will speak about their own issues with the current incarnation of Irish Water and Ervia. I will give way to those misgivings and concerns.

I have spoken many times about our efforts to kick-start commercial house-building in County Longford once again. An obvious place to start this would be in Ballymahon, which is the county's second-largest town, thanks to the arrival of Center Parcs, in which it seemed half the Members of the House holidayed this summer. Ballymahon is now one of the fastest-growing mid-sized towns in the country. It is thanks to the efforts of the local authority and our far-sighted towns team that it is one of the most progressive and innovative mid-sized towns in the midlands. Earlier this year, the Government approved the town team's plan and provided almost €6 million in funding for a new family resource centre and community hub. Over the past 12 months, the Department of Education has approved in excess of €20 million for the development and further development of the three schools in the town. In addition, Center Parcs has a massive, multi-hundred million euro expansion plan for its facility.

Arguably, the biggest deterrent to the further growth of the town is the local sewage system, which is now at capacity and urgently needs to be upgraded. It is a similar story in many small provincial towns across the country. Local councillors in the Ballymahon area and the local authority have flagged this issue with Irish Water, as have I, on numerous occasions. We are now at the stage where the issue needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

When Irish Water is considering a new infrastructure project, it seems that it runs the proposal through a series of eight workshops before it can be advanced. It has taken four years for us to get to the second workshop for something that is critical infrastructure for a provincial town. Part of the Center Parcs' model is that it maintains a strong community forum which meets with members of the local community twice monthly. It was interesting to hear in one of these recent community forums that a major challenge for Center Parcs lies in trying to get staff to come to Ballymahon because of the lack of available housing. Local auctioneers and the county council have estimated that approximately 50 to 70 new-build houses are required in the area over the next two years to make up for the ever-depleting and dwindling housing stock. Many of the people who should be coming to work in any of the industries in Ballymahon and to live in the town are now, unfortunately, living in adjoining counties while working in the town. This has a huge knock-on effect on the local economy.

We only have to go across the road then to Edgeworthstown, which is no more than eight miles from Ballymahon. It is a similar story there. We can see the ineffectualness of Irish Water during the last nine years. Already this year, the local authority has been forced to turn down a planning application for a much-needed housing development. Critically, plans for a new primary healthcare centre have also had to be refused on the basis that the local sewage treatment facility was ineffective and had reached capacity. The developer must be commended on having had the wisdom to seek to get around this situation by installing a developer-provided water services infrastructure, DPI, on site, which is a solution that has been accepted in other counties. Unfortunately, and perhaps correctly, Longford County Council was suspicious and fearful that allowing such a solution would stand in the way of Irish Water ultimately following through on its responsibility to provide an enhanced sewerage system for the town.

Indeed, when it comes to the DPI and the failure to address these issues, we will see that Irish Water has form in this regard in County Longford. We only have to go from Edgeworthstown to the nearby village of Cullyfad, where we have two small housing estates. Between them, they number no more than about 30 houses. By looking at these two small housing estates we can really paint a picture of what have been the abject failings of Irish Water over the last nine years. The Woodland estate is a local authority development which was taken in charge by Irish Water, but the network is simply unable to operate at the required capacity. Twice weekly, Irish Water, or, as is the case, we must pay for tankers to come to clear the network. Meanwhile, a few hundred yards up the road we have the beleaguered residents of Radharc na Coille, which is a small development of just six houses. All of them were purchased after 2013. The local authority took the estate in charge in respect of roads and lights. As Irish Water was coming into being, the local authority obviously did not take charge of water and wastewater services. Consequently, these six households are now struggling to manage and finance a DPI system as operational and energy costs are soaring.

We will head into Longford town as we continue our whistle-stop tour of the county. Two of the oldest housing estates there, namely, Annaly Park and Teffia Park, were built 50 and 60 odd years ago. Almost monthly or, indeed, weekly, we hear stories of the creaking network of water and sewerage pipes across those two estates. Also almost weekly and monthly, I or someone in the office will squabble with Irish Water over whether these are backyard issues. After toing and froing on the subject and going over and back with multiple emails, Irish Water will, ultimately, accept that the situation is its responsibility as the utility provider.

I could go on, because there are many similar instances. There is the Lisbrack housing estate in Longford town, where every couple of months a family is besieged by overflowing sewage. In February 2021, Irish Water assured us that a consultant had been appointed to oversee the project which would see the installation of a new pumping station. At this stage, it would surely be expected that we would have at least seen the outline of the plans for this project, but as of this weekend, when we had another outflow of sewage, we are no nearer to knowing what Irish Water's plans are for this beleaguered part of the town. Therefore, I welcome this legislation, which is very positive, but we really need to see accountability from Uisce Éireann, when it comes into being.

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