Dáil debates

Tuesday, 26 June 2018

Topical Issue Debate

Water and Sewerage Schemes

6:35 pm

Photo of Aindrias MoynihanAindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Coachford is a great area. It is a fantastic village with great potential. There are great facilities there, serving a huge local community. There is a secondary school, shops, pubs, pharmacies, a credit union, an undertaker and two childcare facilities serving a huge community around the area. Right on its doorstep Dell EMC and VMware are major employers. The area has real potential. A new school building is being proposed for Coachford college. However, while the area around Coachford is growing, the village itself is stuck. People cannot get houses. They cannot obtain planning permission or buy houses because it is impossible to get sewer connections. There are two unfinished estates that cannot be built out because the developers cannot get sewer connections. The county council had plans to build social housing which had to be parked because it could not get a sewer connection. One can imagine that the unfinished estates are also attracting unwanted attention.

Locals are unable to build in the village itself. They are struggling to get planning in the village and the wider area due to planning restrictions. Even in the village, if one is lucky enough to get planning permission, it is on the condition that a temporary treatment plant is used, which the residents have to pay to maintain. Some residents have been doing this for up to ten years while waiting for the council and Irish Water to put in place services that have not been forthcoming. In the meantime they are being charged development charges and connection fees for a sewer that is not being developed.

The need for a sewer in Coachford was recognised. Cork County Council advanced the project; it had Part 8 planning on a site beside the hurling pitch and was discussing outflow pipes with landowners. That was over ten years ago. However, the project did not proceed because of the economic downturn. When Irish Water took over in 2013, it discussed advancing the project as well. It produced various different business cases and continued with planning and design. It has even switched sites and now has planning permission on alternative sites, but it is still stuck with discussing land acquisition and talking to landowners. In 2015, Deputies in Government at the time told us that construction would start the following year. Three years later there is no sewer, no contractor has been appointed, and land still has to be purchased.

It is easy to imagine the frustration of the people of Coachford. The village has such potential. It has a really active community and it wants to get this project going. In Coachford, the foul water and surface water are mixed together in the network. If there is bad weather and flooding, foul water becomes backed up in the gullies in the village. That is not the only environmental concern here. Coachford is immediately adjacent to the Inniscarra dam, the water supply for Cork city. This matter has been raised repeatedly with the various authorities, but people do not feel that Irish Water has recognised the problem or responded with the necessary urgency. I understand that it is proposed to bundle the Coachford project with a number of other schemes, namely, those in Ballyvourney, Dripsey and Innishannon, so that they can be constructed together. Each scheme is needed. From a social, economic and environmental perspective, Coachford must be released.

Will the Minister of State impress the urgent need to address this matter on Irish Water? Will he light a fire under it to get it moving and ensure that the Coachford wastewater scheme becomes a reality?

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. I thank Deputy Aindrias Moynihan for raising it and for providing me with the opportunity to outline the position on the prioritisation of investment by Irish Water, including in respect of communities such as Coachford, County Cork. I know that part of the world quite well. The Deputy is correct when he says that it is beautiful.

Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water service planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level. The primary function of Irish Water is to provide clean, safe drinking water to customers and to treat and return wastewater safely to the environment. Irish Water, as a single national utility, is taking a strategic nationwide approach to asset planning and investment.

The first ever water services policy statement, prepared in line with the Water Services Acts, which the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, launched last month, outlines a clear direction for strategic planning and decision-making on water and wastewater services in Ireland. It identified key policy objectives and priorities for the delivery of water and wastewater services in Ireland over the period up to 2025. The water services policy statement sets out a series of high-level policy objectives across the three thematic areas of quality, conservation and future-proofing. It provides the context within which necessary funding and investment plans by Irish Water will be framed and agreed.

On foot of this water services policy statement, Irish Water's forthcoming strategic funding plan will set out the costs of providing domestic and non-domestic waters services and the recovery of these costs. Subject to the Minister's approval of the strategic funding plan, it will feed into the allowed revenue determination for Irish Water by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, as the economic regulator of Irish Water, and will ultimately feed into future annual estimates and the budgetary process.

Irish Water's next investment plan, for the five-year period from 2020 to 2024, will set out the financial plan for capital investments to support its strategic objectives as set out in the water services strategic plan and the forthcoming strategic funding plan to deliver improvements to water services throughout Ireland where they are needed most. Irish Water's water services strategic plan, published in October 2015, sets out a high-level strategy for the next 25 years to ensure the provision of clean, safe drinking water, effective management of wastewater, environmental protection, and support for economic and social development. Irish Water will also take account of developing subsidiary programmes within its investment plan to assist in implementing the national planning framework and the national development plan such as those aimed at addressing the needs of smaller communities. Irish Water will work with each local authority to develop these programmes further for inclusion in future funding requirements.

As the Deputy mentioned, in partnership with Cork County Council, Irish Water is currently prioritising a wastewater and sewerage scheme for Coachford, County Cork as part of a wider project that will also involve upgrading infrastructure in Dripsey, Innishannon and Ballyvourney-Ballymakeera. The upgrade will be delivered under a single contract as part of what Irish Water is calling the Cork mid-west sewerage schemes. Upon completion, each of the newly upgraded wastewater treatment plants and associated sewer network will improve treatment, quality and capacity and ensure compliance with the urban wastewater treatment directive and Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, wastewater discharge licensing. Consultations on each location are ongoing, with all landowners on the proposed schemes identified.

I understand from Irish Water that the procurement process for the construction contract is under way. Irish water aims to be in a position to award the construction contract in the first half of 2019. In addition to ongoing negotiations with landowners, Irish Water has undertaken engagement with local elected representatives both in person and via the local representative support desk, and will continue to engage and update on the progress of the project when new information becomes available. In addition, Irish Water representatives have met local community associations and interest groups. This engagement will continue throughout the period of the project.

6:45 pm

Photo of Aindrias MoynihanAindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I understand that the procurement process for the construction contract is under way and that Irish Water is now aiming to be in a position for construction to begin in the first half of 2019. We had false dawns and promises regarding construction in 2016. What is different this time? How confident is the Minister of State that Irish Water will get going on that and begin construction next year? Can he advise what is different from 2016?

Furthermore, I refer to the fact that the Coachford scheme is bundled with a number of other schemes. I understand that this is being done to gain efficiencies through economies of scale. However, will delays in other schemes hold back schemes such as this? The local experience of bundling has not been positive. For example, our Garda station in Macroom is bundled with projects in Sligo and Clonmel. Although a site has been available for the past two years, there has been no progress in Macroom because the project is waiting for progress on a site in Sligo. Will bundling these sewerage schemes together and having to deal with a range of different issues will cause a delay in any of these schemes? The Coachford and Ballyvourney schemes will have to go through land acquisitions and contested compulsory purchase orders, CPOs. The Minister of State should also bear in mind that those delays are not just delaying the scheme itself. As construction costs go up, delays in the contract will mean a more expensive scheme, which undermines the bundling in the first place. If a scheme is ready to go, can it proceed independently of those with which it is bundled? Could the Coachford scheme move ahead without being held back by any other scheme in the bundle?

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Minister and I do not have a role in the prioritisation of individual water services projects, but I accept the Deputy's point about the mid-west Cork bundle. Irish Water expects that there will shortly be an announcement on the proposed CPO for the scheme, and the information I have been given is that the contracts will be signed in the first half of 2019. I will endeavour to find the answer to the question on the bundling issue and whether it could have knock-on effects. I understand from what the Deputy has said and from the comments that have been made by Irish Water that the Coachford scheme is at an advanced stage. There seems to be no reason that work could not commence if there were delays in the other areas. I will endeavour to get that particular answer from Irish Water. The company expects that the announcement on CPOs will happen shortly and that this contract will be signed in the first half of 2019.