Dáil debates

Thursday, 5 July 2007

Adjournment Debate

Water and Sewerage Schemes.

5:00 pm

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to see the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, but I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Gormley, is not here to hear this important debate. Perhaps he has other engagements — I was often in that impasse and understand why one must cut one's cloth according to what one has.

I hope the Minister of State can ad lib as well as stating what he was told by the Department. A sinister development has taken place. It has become a fait accompli that the water to supply the east coast, or the greater Dublin area as it is called in friendly fashion, will come from the Shannon catchment area and Lough Ree. Before we sleepwalk into a disaster brought upon ourselves, let us examine the facts. There was no consultation on this frightening proposal. The EU framework directive of 2000 stated that a guiding tenet was full consultation with interested parties. Other options for supplying water have been dismissed blithely in cavalier fashion, leading to the conclusion that the only option is to abstract water from the Shannon and Lough Ree. The Minister of State's county, County Clare, will be affected, as will counties Tipperary, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, but the main abstraction will be from the Shannon area around Athlone and Lough Ree. Grave disquiet is building about the way the proposal flouts the framework directive in an obvious fashion.

Dublin has everything, including the Luas and other facilities. Now it is proposing to take our water and leave us in an arid situation, like a desert. Flippant remarks have been made to the effect that people from the region are always talking about flooding. We do not wish the source of tourism and our natural heritage to be taken away. The low-lying meadows in the callows around Athlone are in a special area of conservation. Nevertheless, if the Ceann Comhairle will excuse the pun, this status will be ditched in favour of the rape of our water. The constant leakage of Dublin water will not be corrected and, in a cavalier fashion, our water will be taken.

Other proposals have been ditched. The aquifer, which could supply a viable amount of water for daily consumption in the Dublin region, is about to have a huge landfill dump built upon it. It will be the largest in Europe, built on top of the source of the aquifer. When people wake up and suggest examining the aquifer, it will be too late.

The desalination proposal, carried out successfully in Spain and Portugal, is not considered because of high energy costs. That is a load of bilge that I totally debunk. This is a serious matter. Dublin City Council should get its hands off our water, which we need for our purposes, including recreational, ecological and environmental reasons. We have already fought the battle about the special area of conservation. We have come to make our peace with those who require special areas of conservation. Europe regards them as very important.

How far has this process gone? There was no consultation with elected representatives, sporting and tourism interests or the local population. It is a case of uisce faoi thalamh, if another pun can be permitted. Perhaps county managers have come together to decide this is the way forward and that water is only for ordinary people and not very important. I hope the Minister of State can confirm that all options are being considered. Otherwise, I will continue this crusade for a long time.

Photo of Trevor SargentTrevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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I agree with Deputy O'Rourke.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I hope Deputy Sargent will do something for me.

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State has five minutes to divine a solution.

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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This important matter is of interest to many people in the Shannon region and beyond. The Minister, who regrets he is not available this evening, explained to the House yesterday in response to a written question that the Department had provided the funding to Dublin City Council for a study to assess the long-term water use and supply needs of the greater Dublin area and to identify potential options for meeting those needs. The Shannon proposal was one of the options that emanated from the study. It is no more than a study option and there is no related infrastructural proposal before the Department for consideration or approval.

This Department is responsible for planning, prioritising and financing all of the major water services projects undertaken nationally. Every effort has been made over the past few years to ensure that water and sewerage facilities have been available to service and support the huge growth and expansion that has taken place across all economic and social sectors. Schemes approved by this Department are incorporated into the water services investment programme, a published document that is always available in the Oireachtas Library. The approved schemes are drawn from regular assessments of needs undertaken by local authorities, at this Department's request, as an input to the overall strategy for providing infrastructure needed to meet environmental protection objectives, development requirements and national and EU public health and water quality standards. It was in that context that the particular study I have referred to was funded. However, there is no scheme in the programme to provide infrastructure to take water from the Shannon to Dublin.

Nevertheless, new long-term supplies of water are required in the greater Dublin area. There is limited potential to abstract additional water from existing sources in the area and it is necessary to consider new long-term options. That was the background to the study which estimated that an extra 300 million litres of water per day will be required from a new major source by 2031. The study concluded that only two options could technically meet this requirement, the Shannon or a desalination plant.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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What about the aquifer?

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister of State should be allowed to speak without interruption.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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All right.

Photo of Tony KilleenTony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I am only able to speak one sentence at a time. I will come to that. Dublin City Council is now carrying out a detailed appraisal of the Shannon and desalination options to determine which, if either, would represent the optimum solution to the region's long-term water needs. The appraisal is just that, an appraisal, and no decision has been taken, at either local or departmental level, as to what might be the best answer.

Any decision to proceed with the Shannon approach would first be subject to statutory procedures, including strategic environmental assessment. The statutory process provides an opportunity for all interested parties to make an input. I am well aware people on the Shannon have expressed concerns that there may be adverse consequences due to lowered water levels in the river. Others have said ground water resources could be exploited instead. All these issues remain to be fully teased out as part of the statutory process associated with the decision making on a preferred approach.

It will be clear from the foregoing that it will be some time before any proposal is likely to come before the Department for approval or funding. I assure Deputies that I, and the Department, are just as keen as the people around Lough Ree to preserve and protect the lake. It is crucial to the livelihoods of many individuals and businesses and has high amenity value for people engaged in a range of pursuits. I assure the House that before the Department would commit to funding any scheme on the Shannon, we would need to be absolutely convinced that all those factors had been taken into account and that it was the correct solution from every point of view.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Am I allowed to speak again?

Photo of John O'DonoghueJohn O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am afraid not. The next matter has been tabled by Deputy White. I understand this is the Deputy's maiden speech so I take the opportunity to wish her a long, distinguished and happy career in Leinster House.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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That is lovely.