Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

His horses came first, second, third, fifth and seventh. It was huge. I know there was a fantastic celebration and homecoming last night in Closutton and Leighlinbridge. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as I was in Dublin. It is an achievement that needs to be acknowledged formally in the House. He is a fantastic ambassador and like me, has strong Kilkenny connections, being originally from Goresbridge. I acknowledge Willie Mullins, Patrick Mullins and the whole team for everything they have done. It is magnificent.

The programme for Government commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. In addition, the programme for Government states that the Government will prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages. I am sure that people across the House will agree that there is a significant issue in respect of the capacity of Irish Water and the investment, in particular, in small towns and villages. If they had the water infrastructure, it would enable small housing schemes to happen more quickly than has been the case.

I recently travelled around my constituency to places such as Mullinavat, Inistioge, Glenmore, Ballyhale, Paulstown, Kells, Kilmanagh and Piltown where the infrastructure is not there to help these towns and villages to grow and prosper. The former Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, created the small towns and villages scheme, which is good, but to date it has been slow in its delivery. For example, work may not start on Bennettsbridge, the number one priority in Kilkenny, until 2029. That, in turn, means that all the other towns and villages that are further down the priority list, including the likes of Fiddown, Glenmore, Windgap, Dungarvan and the The Rower, may face even longer delays in the delivery of this vital water infrastructure. Where water infrastructure has reached its limit, new housing development stalls, forcing locals to relocate, which is not what I want. That creates a ripple effect on all our schools, shops and GAA clubs as families move and demographics shift, which is a hammer blow to rural Ireland.

The Government has made a commitment to increase the level of capital investment in Irish Water for the next while, which I welcome. It is, however, imperative that the investment is tied to new supply so we can enable housing and infrastructure development around the entire country and, in particular, in towns and villages across my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. We must also look at the regulatory framework to get a proper balance between EPA compliance, new development and new wastewater treatment plants in areas to facilitate more housing and get those numbers up, which we all want.

As the Minister knows, housing is the number one social issue and crisis facing this country at the moment. Enabling infrastructure such as water and wastewater would enable us to get more houses built quicker and evenly across the country. We could get an awful lot more done if the infrastructure was there. While it is important that we get the increase to a record level of investment, the delivery of that investment is more important. That is crucial and that is where the challenge is. Uisce Éireann must be able to do this on time and with a sense of urgency and relentlessness we have not seen before.

In the past ten years, we have ramped up capital delivery capability for water services. In 2014, €300 million was available. In 2024, the relevant figure was €1.3 billion. I acknowledge there has been a significant increase in investment and record funding was allocated between 2020 and 2024. That investment will continue under the new strategic funding plan. However, there is much more to do. The Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvement to our public water and wastewater services. However, given the legacy of underinvestment in water services infrastructure in Ireland, the scale of remedial work necessary in our water and wastewater systems will take a number of years and a number of investment cycles to fully resolve. We must take action now.

I note the Government has acknowledged and recognises that our wastewater networks require ongoing and sustained investment to bring them to the required standard of treatment, to deal with population growth and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Significant investment in wastewater infrastructure continues and is provided for in the 2025-29 strategic funding plan. I am most interested to hear that further funding will be considered as part of the NDP review due to be completed this year. I encourage and implore the Minister to get additional funding to ensure that small villages and town schemes, in particular, are completed as soon as possible.

We need to support Uisce Éireann in the delivery of its key strategic projects in our cities and regions. Security of water supply is critical to delivering our national housing and economic priorities. We need to introduce statutory timelines for preconnections and water, wastewater and energy connection agreements to ensure that large developments can proceed without the delays they are experiencing at the moment. We need to establish a new procedure for large developments of more than 100 units whereby a developer can meet local authority planners and Uisce Éireann onsite to iron out any issues at the preplanning stage. We need to invest additional capital funding in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. We must prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing developments in our towns and villages. We want that development of towns and villages spread evenly across the counties.

We need to ensure that Uisce Éireann prioritises delivery of the small towns and villages programme. As I mentioned earlier, 15 wastewater projects are required in Kilkenny and the first project will not be under way until 2029, which leaves the other 14 vulnerable in terms of how quickly we can get them over the line. We need to ensure that Uisce Éireann expedites and expands the small towns and villages growth programme to deliver wastewater services to rural towns and villages.

As the Minister knows, Uisce Éireann is responsible for the delivery of secure, safe and sustainable public water services that will enable the Irish economy to grow and communities across Ireland to thrive. From 2020 to 2024, Uisce Éireann invested over €5 billion to upgrade and improve water and wastewater services infrastructure across the country to improve the quality of life of the people of Ireland, to protect our environment and to grow our economy. In my constituency, Kilkenny city has received fantastic investment of €33 million for the upgrade of the infrastructure in Troyswood water treatment plant. That is future proofed and is only at two thirds capacity at the moment. Kilkenny city has the capacity to grow and add an additional 20,000 businesses and homes under the current plan. That is fantastic. The infrastructure is there and we need to roll it out, in particular, to smaller towns and villages around the country.

We are now in a situation whereby some of the towns in Carlow and Kilkenny have the capacity to grow. They are growing at a fantastic rate and will well exceed their targets under the national planning framework. The challenge we have is that other towns do not have a hope of reaching their targets because the infrastructure is not there. We need to get the infrastructure in place to allow these smaller towns and villages, such as Graiguenamanagh, where I am from, which are the heartbeat of rural Ireland and rural communities, to grow and prosper and to get the best out of themselves. It is absolutely crucial.

We have project in Paulstown and Gowran at the moment which is currently under construction. That will make a huge difference when it is completed in terms of enabling capacity there.

Public water underpins all of the basic needs of an open, thriving and global competitive Ireland. There is much for us to do to modernise our water infrastructure. Infrastructure is expensive and containing costs relies on certainty, consistency and efficiency. Bringing stability to the planning system by progressing and enacting legislative amendments, finalising the reform of An Bord Pleanála and enabling it to make timely, impactful decisions around strategic priority projects, are absolutely essential to constant, cost efficient and structured development. There are welcome steps being taken to address some of the issues that exist within our planning system but we need to do more.

Finally, continuing to grow investment in water service infrastructure is absolutely essential to keep up with and adapt to change and to ensure Ireland meets its economic, social and environmental obligations. I am a passionate rural person from a small place called Skeaghvasteen in the parish of Graiguenamanagh. The biggest challenge I see at the moment is that we have certain towns and villages in Kilkenny and Carlow that have the capacity to develop and grow way above what their communities can absorb. We have other towns and villages which are absolutely hamstrung and choked and there is no development. That is massive issue for us for schools, GAA clubs, shops and pubs. It is absolutely strangling them and we need to do more to help those small rural towns and villages right across the country.

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