James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

I raise this in the context of a very live issue. Dublin City Council recently went out to public consultation on a brownfield site known as Ballyboggan where more than 6,000 homes could be built. As part of that consultation, Uisce Éireann identified two very significant challenges to the delivery of those homes. The first was wastewater treatment and the absence of a wastewater treatment plant in the area to service those homes. The second, and it is either fortunate or unfortunate that the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley is in the seat here today, relates to the Dublin to Shannon water pipeline and the possibility there may be an insufficient water supply to support the construction of those homes on this site.

The context for this master plan being put out to public consultation is as a result of the Government’s decision to update the national planning framework to go out to every local authority in the country and ask them to identify what parcels of lands they have to deliver more homes and houses. However, elected members of Dublin City Council will be faced with a very challenging decision when it comes to the rezoning of those lands if Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, is telling the council and the councillors that there is not a sufficient wastewater treatment plant in the area and there may be risks to the water supply. As someone who previously served on the council, I would find it very difficult to make a decision to rezone that land. That is why it is so essential that we establish this strategic housing activation office. The example of Ballyboggan is a classic case where if we banged heads together, we could find interim solutions and ensure that councillors could be confident that if they rezoned the land, they would be doing so in a way that was safe and sufficient, that would have an adequate water supply and wastewater treatment plant and that interim solutions could also be provided.

Ballyboggan is also illustrative of the multifaceted challenges we have in the delivery of housing in this country. Uisce Éireann’s mentions the absence of a wastewater treatment plant. That plant was first before An Bord Pleanála in 2019 but arising from local objections, it ended up in judicial review in the High Court. It is only back before An Bord Pleanála. We must see and believe that the new Planning Act, significant parts of which have been commenced, will make a substantial difference to the planning process so that the public can have faith that when these applications are put forward that only in very exceptional circumstances will they end up in the higher courts and experience delays that we simply cannot afford.

I have no doubt the kind of example I have given in Ballyboggan could be replicated throughout the country on smaller parcels of land.

It is so essential, in the moneys we give to Uisce Éireann, that we see demonstrable connection between those moneys and how many water connections for houses it will deliver over the long term and the kind of interim solutions that can be provided. In many cases, we simply cannot wait for those long-term solutions to arrive. We need to act now.

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