Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Page 41 of the programme for Government says the Government will “support Uisce Éireann in the delivery of key strategic projects in our cities and regions.” It also says we will:

Invest additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. We will prioritise water and waste water infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages.

I have one more very important quote from the programme for Government, which I want to read into the record. It reads: "Ensure Uisce Éireann prioritises the delivery of the Small Towns and Villages Programme." The phrasing of that is very important for the examples I am going to give today, that Uisce Éireann would prioritise that programme rather than continue to prioritise it.

I am going to focus on one local issue today which highlights a greater national issue around wastewater capacity, particularly in our smaller towns and villages. The issue for me is in Cloughjordan in north Tipperary. For the best part of 15 years we have needed an increase in capacity in that plant. This is an illustration of so many small towns and villages that cannot build houses while they are waiting on Uisce Éireann to start developing the plant or to increase capacity in the plant. As a result of a lack of capacity, we have a DPI in Cloughjordan for the Townfields housing estate, which 17 years later cannot be connected to the mains system. New social housing cannot be built. There are over 30 people on social housing lists in this small village alone and no new houses can be built there. No new private housing can be built because of a lack of capacity in the plant. We also have the ecovillage in Cloughjordan which is known nationally and internationally for the sustainable community it is, with dozens of serviced sites, none of which can be sold or built on because of a lack of capacity in the system.

In a response from Uisce Éireann, it said this issue was being addressed through the small towns and villages growth programme and was currently progressing through stage 2, preliminary business case of a wastewater treatment plant project. Roughly 15 years after we learned that we needed an increase in capacity in this plant, Uisce Éireann is telling us it is at the preliminary business case stage. To me that is utterly unacceptable.

I am sharing this one case as an example of the dozens of small towns and villages across this nation that cannot build houses until we get capacity in our wastewater treatment system. It is a wider societal and economic issue because of our water quality and because of our rural population decline and rural regeneration, whether it is our schools, our clubs or our sense of community in keeping people in their home area. It is also in relation to our housing delivery.

While I welcome these very clear commitments in the programme for Government, I hope we will be able to work through them and deliver on them. It is one thing to write a very large cheque to Uisce Éireann to deliver these projects. It is another thing entirely to ensure that it delivers on time, on budget and with a sense of urgency. We feel the sense of urgency when it comes to the delivery of housing. These small towns and villages feel it. Will Uisce Éireann also feel that sense of urgency?

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