Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)

The programme for Government seeks to build 300,000 homes by 2030. It is an ambitious task and one that will need every tool available to Government to deliver.

Every week I hear from local builders who want to help Government to deliver on that ambition by building houses in hundreds of rural communities, helping the Government reach its housing target as well as ensuring the viability of our rural communities.

They are being blocked in many areas by the lack of wastewater infrastructure and the inability of Uisce Éireann to deliver it at speed and scale. Separately, I know the villages of Broadford and Cooraclare in County Clare are no closer to seeing any progress on the pilot wastewater scheme announced by the Government in 2023 and there is no end in sight.

No housing developments will be built in these villages nor in any other settlements in rural Ireland without a treatment system. Rural Ireland simply cannot wait the decades it will take to deliver the treatment plants needed. Uisce Éireann has shown no interest in delivering these small scale treatment systems as it is more focused on the large urban areas.

There is a solution. The use of modular certified wastewater treatment systems should be rolled out throughout the country to support the small scale developments on the thousands of acres of already zoned land in unserviced settlements in rural areas. These modular treatment systems can be engineered and manufactured in controlled environments to extremely high standards, require minimum power and maintenance and operate in compliance with strict EPA guidelines. Designed, built and installed by companies based in Ireland, they are the fastest to deliver, taking months compared with Uisce Éireann which takes years and often decades. Crucially, I ask Uisce Éireann be directed to take in charge the future operation, control and maintenance of these systems once completed, subject to compliance by the builder.

I am aware of two projects in Clare - Kilkishen and Ruan. Uisce Éireann initially said there was no issue with capacity. Developers then used significant resources in progressing planning applications but have since been told that these developments cannot now proceed due to the lack of capacity. Modular systems would allow both these developments - almost 70 homes - to progress. However, responsibility for their future maintenance is an issue and is being passed between State bodies.

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