Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this report and the wide-ranging implications Ireland’s declining water quality has, from the devastation it is wreaking on our biodiversity to the deteriorating quality of life it is inflicting on our local communities. The significance of the problem is difficult to overstate and it should be treated with the absolute urgency it deserves.

I commend the EPA on preparing the report. Though the reports findings are far from welcome, we welcome efforts to highlight the gravity of the situation. A number of things are highlighted in the report. It states there has been no significant change in the biological quality of our rivers our lakes in 2022. The rate of decline largely matches the rate of improvement. Nitrate concentrations are too high in 40% of river sites nationally and in 20% of estuarine and coastal water bodies. Average nitrate levels in rivers and groundwaters increased nationally between 2021 and 2022. Phosphate concentrations are too high in 28% of rivers and 36% of lakes. This impacts on their biological quality. Phosphate levels in rivers and lakes fluctuate between rivers but have been generally stable in recent years. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading in the marine environment have been generally increasing since 2013. Loads of nutrients were higher in 2022 then in 2021 and this placed continued pressure on our marine water bodies. Importantly, the report confirms or reconfirms the number of near-pristine river sites in Ireland has declined from more than 500 in the 1980s to 32 today.

There was a presentation earlier in the AV room from Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin on the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss and the Minister of State attended. Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin noted that despite covering many broad areas in their deliberations, assembly members found declining freshwater quality to be the issue that was most depressing and distressing. The Minister of State will recall Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin said there was silence at lunchtime.

I want to focus on water and wastewater infrastructure. It is really important and one of those areas that is fully within our control to address. We know just 51% of Ireland’s sewage was treated to the EU standards set to protect our environment, which is well below the EU average of 90%. There are 32 towns and villages still discharging raw sewage into our environment every day. This is very significant. In my constituency of Meath East we have regular issues with water and wastewater infrastructure, including in Ratoath, Kells, Stamullen, Duleek, Ashbourne and the list goes on. A well-attended public meeting was held last night in Ratoath. It was reflecting on at least three water outages in recent weeks. People with disabilities and businesses were present. At the root of it is bad planning, bad development, development without adequate infrastructure and developer-led development. This was an area that saw a huge increase in residences and homes but not the adequate and critical water infrastructure. That is something that could and should have been avoided but was not. Now we are in a situation where fingers are pointed at the local authority. Uisce Éireann has been under-resourced and impotent in its response. There are plans for Ratoath, but it is fair to say they have come late in the day and people are suffering the consequences of it. It is the same with Kells, where there are significant concerns about the capacity of the wastewater treatment and the need to have it upgraded and future-proofed. The Minister of State may be familiar with the Save the Boyne campaign in Meath. In each of these circumstances, local communities are coming together recognising the importance of their freshwater supply and the importance of water and wastewater infrastructure, but the State is failing in each case or even worse, is taking decisions that are having very negative outcomes. There is, therefore, significant work to be done. I look forward to working with the committee on the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss as there are a huge number of important recommendations there, but also working outside of that within politics, within Government and within these institutions to make progress. It needs to happen.

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