Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There are a couple of things I want to raise in this very important debate. We know we have a housing crisis and a housing emergency. The first one is the issue of responsibility and accountability. We have a fundamental problem here in that the area of water is clearly on the Department of housing's website as one of its core five competencies, along with planning, housing, heritage and local government.

Irish Water is a State-owned company. Its shareholders are the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for housing and the Minister for housing appoints the board. I refer to putting in questions on Uisce Eireann. I put in a parliamentary question specifically asking the Minister for housing and local government how many housing developments have applied to Uisce Éireann for the provision of water and wastewater infrastructure, the number of developments that have yet to commence because they are waiting for the delivery of this infrastructure and how long they are likely to wait for the delivery of this infrastructure. I received a letter from the Ceann Comhairle's office stating that the Minister has no official responsibility to Dáil Éireann for this matter under Standing Order 45 and it is a matter for Uisce Éireann. I do not think we can continue with this situation that Uisce Éireann is not accountable to this House and to the Minister for housing. We need clarity on that and I ask for the Minister of State to give clarity.

It is very clear from everything we are hearing in the debate, from what has been said to us and from what we are hearing from around the country, there is a huge issue around Uisce Éireann's accountability on a local level in terms of its working, although there are clearly lots of projects working well. Uisce Éireann has to be accountable - it is a State-owned company - but the Minister for housing also needs to take responsibility. The housing crisis is an emergency. Uisce Éireann is absolutely critical to us solving this housing crisis. If Uisce Éireann is not delivering the infrastructure, we cannot deliver the homes.

Why is the Minister for housing not taking this responsibility instead of fudging it around? I am not sure how we get around this in terms of the Ceann Comhairle, Standing Orders and making Uisce Éireann accountable under the Minister for housing. The chairman, Jerry Grant, spoke two weeks ago at the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and said that the new higher targets for housing would not be met without a new approach from the Government and leadership from the very top. Where is the new approach, what is it and where is the leadership? It links back to this taking of responsibility. We cannot leave the provision of critical infrastructure to the State agency that is not accountable to a Minister and the Minister taking responsibility for that. Mr. Grant also said that Uisce Éireann had no mandate to provide for future housing growth. That Uisce Éireann has no mandate for future housing growth is untenable. That needs to be changed, whether it is by legislation or by direction from the Minister. Uisce Éireann needs to have a very clear mandate to deliver the necessary infrastructure for housing development. This is absolutely critical.

Of course, it is not a new issue. Uisce Éireann has not suddenly had this crisis where it does not have the capacity to deliver for housing. In 2023, a spokesperson for Uisce Éireann was quoted as saying that it can take five to seven years for projects to progress through panning to completion and even longer when difficulties arise. Last year, there was a plan for 126 homes in Dunmanway in Cork that was halted due to overcapacity with a wastewater plant. Last year, Uisce Éireann said €500 million was needed on an annual basis because of the increase in construction costs.

We need to be very clear here; this is an emergency. The housing crisis is an emergency. Uisce Éireann has to be given the funding, it has to be made accountable and the Minister has to take responsibility for ensuring Uisce Éireann delivers that infrastructure. Whatever changes are needed to make that happen need to be made.

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