Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy rightly identifies, the OPW is not the only agency or organ of State responsible for dealing with flooding. It does flood prevention works but Uisce Éireann is involved in making sure there is sufficient drainage, in particular for new housing, as the Deputy pointed out. We have a massive housing programme, so we needed a lot of investment in Uisce Éireann. That is why it was given €1.6 billion this year for investment purposes. When all else fails, there are compensation payments for businesses and individuals. However, it is well recognised with flooding that it costs a lot less to do the preventative work than it does to compensate people after the fact. For this reason, it is important that we continue to invest at that level. With a growing population and a massive increase in our housing programme, we need a commensurate increase in the amount of investment in our water drainage facilities. The programme for Government commits to funding Uisce Éireann's capital investment plan for drinking water and wastewater on a multi-annual basis instead of year by year for this reason. The delivery of the funding project has been committed to in Project Ireland 2040. The national development plan commits to almost €6 billion of capital investment to be undertaken by Uisce Éireann until 2025.

Uisce Éireann has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email atoireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on a dedicated number at 1890 578 578. Uisce Éireann will share with the Deputy its plans for investment in wastewater treatment in north County Louth and Dundalk. If he is not happy with what he hears or has other suggestions, he should contact either my office or that of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

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