Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Water supply in the greater Dublin area is dependent on large abstractions, as he knows, from the River Liffey and the River Vartry. To address this, Uisce Éireann is progressing long-term projects to secure our water supply for the future, including two major projects for Dublin and the eastern and midlands region. The water supply project eastern and midlands region was approved in principle by the Government in June 2024. It is a generational project that will address the water supply deficit and lack of capacity for growth in the eastern and midlands region by supplying water from a hydropower reservoir on the River Shannon, which I am reasonably familiar with. The greater Dublin drainage, GDD, project will develop a new regional wastewater treatment facility and associated infrastructure to serve north Dublin and parts of counties Kildare and Meath. The GDD planning application is currently under review by An Bord Pleanála with a decision expected in the coming months. These two major projects are scheduled for completion in the early 2030s and will secure the water services for Dublin and the surrounding regions into the future.

Uisce Éireann also has interim plans to address water supply risks in the greater Dublin area, GDA, and to improve its water supply by reducing leakage, increasing raw water storage and carrying out upgrades to the current infrastructure to ensure they can obtain maximum output. These interventions will allow Uisce Éireann to control the water supply until delivery of the water supply project in 2032. The GDA is amber on the register maintained by Uisce Éireann to indicate the capacity status of its various treatment plants rather than an unconstrained "green" status. However, Uisce Éireann will prioritise new connections for water supply for domestic properties to support housing needs across the area and assess non-domestic connection applications on a case-by-case basis.

Uisce Éireann will work with developers of large non-domestic developments to reduce water requirements through the use of more water-efficient technology. More generally, the Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvement in our public water and wastewater services. In 2018, the rate of leakage nationally was approximately 46%, but by the end of 2022 it had reduced to 37%. Uisce Éireann is on track to achieve a national leakage rate of 25%, with the expectation of a GDA rate of 20%, by the end of 2030.

It is also important to remember that in the past ten years, Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery capability for water services and infrastructure from €300 million in 2014 to approximately €1.3 billion in 2024. Record funding has been allocated between 2020 and 2024. This will continue under the National Development Plan 2026-2030.

Of course, it is clear that one of the major issues in addressing the deficit in housing is linked to a lack of water and sewerage infrastructure and, at another level, grid capacity. The Government is very cognisant of that and is committed to the continued roll-out of the funding required to put that infrastructure in place. The Deputy very eloquently highlighted the needs in the greater Dublin area, but that is also the case in other regional towns and cities. It is something the Government is focusing on as part of the need to address the shortage of housing in the marketplace.

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