Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will pass on the Deputy's frustrations to the relevant Ministers in the relevant Department. Having been that soldier for long enough, I know how it feels. I will do my best to give the reply justice.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I agree with him that this is an excellent report. It arrived on my desk because it relates directly to my role in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and impacts on many commercial activities and the health and well-being of many employees throughout the country.

Since 1 January 2014, Uisce Éireann has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Uisce Éireann’s primary function is to provide clean safe drinking water to customers and to treat and return wastewater safely to the environment. In turn, the Environmental Protection Agency holds Uisce Éireann to account for its environmental performance. The EPA is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the necessary quality standards for the collection and treatment of wastewater.

As part of budget 2024, secured funding of over €1.6 billion is being allocated to Uisce Éireann to support water services. The national development plan commits to almost €6 billion capital investment to be undertaken by Uisce Éireann in the period from 2021 to 2025, of which over €4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funding in respect of domestic wastewater services. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services.

Many serious challenges remain, which will take significant investment to deliver infrastructure to ensure compliance with the requirements of the urban wastewater treatment directive. The EPA report notes that there is a long and complex programme of work ahead to deliver a wastewater service that fully meets the required standards.

Uisce Éireann’s investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, support improved water supplies across Ireland, including rural areas, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area, such as Blackrock and, indeed, Tramore. It is key to addressing Ireland's shortcomings in water and wastewater infrastructure, including compliance with the urban wastewater treatment directive.

Over 90% of Ireland's public wastewater plants are compliant with the urban wastewater treatment directive. The vast majority of the total wastewater load that is not yet in compliance with the directive requirements comes from one treatment area, the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant serving Dublin and the surrounding area. Uisce Éireann is currently investing over €500 million in the staged upgrading of the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant. This will deliver the capacity to treat the wastewater for a population equivalent of 2.4 million while achieving the standards of the urban wastewater treatment directive by 2025. Uisce Éireann also has plans in place to address any outstanding issues at the remaining non-compliant plants.

Wastewater has been identified by the EPA as a significant pollution pressure on almost 200 water bodies. However, wastewater is not the only pollution pressure on many of these water bodies. Other pressures include agriculture and forestry. Thirty-nine of these have been identified by the EPA as areas where Uisce Éireann should prioritise its work. Upgrades to treatment infrastructure at ten of the priority areas are either ongoing or due to begin within the next two years. The treatment plant at one priority area was upgraded recently and monitoring is being carried out to assess if the upgrade has resolved the risk of pollution. Uisce Éireann is in the preliminary stages of designing action plans to resolve the risk of pollution at the remaining 28 areas.

There are an estimated 2,447 storm water overflows on our wastewater collection system. By the end of 2022, Uisce Éireann had assessed almost three quarters of these against national standards, while monitoring equipment had been installed on 888 overflow outlets. This work will help our urban areas in adapting to a changing climate. However, these projects are complex, particularly in cities, and will take considerably longer to address.

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