Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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18. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his Department’s policy, in conjunction with Irish Water, on the taking in charge of developer-led sewage treatment plants; his views on the part such privately developed treatment plants can play in future county development plans to encourage development in small towns and villages in County Clare and throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55206/21]

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I have been dealing with local councillors in County Clare who have come up with a proposal that I would like to be considered. This is whereby a developer could build a private sewerage treatment plant. These would be used for the further development of small towns and villages. It is a good proposal. The key issue is that Irish Water would have to take the unit in charge.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. The Department builds in strategic water policy and infrastructural delivery programmes around the National Planning Framework 2018-2040 and the National Development Plan 2018-2027. Investment is primarily delivered through Irish Water while the Department operates the rural water programme directly.

The programme for Government supports the uptake of Irish Water’s Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme 2020 2024, which would provide water and wastewater growth capacity in smaller settlements that would not be otherwise provided in Irish Water's capital investment programme. Complementary to the programme, my Department is currently examining wastewater requirements in the context of villages and settlements that do not have public wastewater infrastructure. This process is at an advanced stage.

Housing estates that are not taken in charge by local authorities and do not have their wastewater services connected to the public network rely instead on infrastructure provided by the estate developers. My Department is currently operating a multi-annual resolution programme to provide funding for the progressive resolution of housing estates with legacy developer-provided water services infrastructure. Significant challenges exist, however, in realising solutions for all of those problem areas.

As to possible future reliance on developer-provided infrastructure, experience has shown that this infrastructure is often temporary and not properly maintained. This can lead to environmental and public health risk. Policy in the past had allowed for the developer to provide water and wastewater infrastructure as an interim solution, which would become redundant or partly redundant on the public scheme that would be constructed. However, in reality many of these estates that were constructed using developer-provided wastewater infrastructure were not of critical mass and size and were geographically remote from the Irish Water network. It is difficult to envisage a situation where reliance on developer-provided wastewater infrastructure could be supported more in the future.

Finally, the draft development plan guidelines for planning authorities published in August 2021 has a strong emphasis on proposals for new developments being clearly based on availability of new infrastructure, including wastewater infrastructure, to enable development to take place.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. This is an issue in rural Ireland and in County Clare in particular. Some 52 settlements in small towns and villages in the county just do not have the infrastructure. If the infrastructure is not there, it is not possible to develop a village further. This is an innovative idea. If the Department can work in conjunction with others and came up with a prototype or an agreed standard for a treatment plant, it could be provided in each of these smaller settlements and would provide for that type of development. Without this type of initiative, I am fearful that these towns and villages will go backwards, which we do not want.

I ask that the Minister of State and his officials engage with Clare County Council on this and come up with a prototype.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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We will commit to doing that. We are establishing a programme early next year to support villages and towns that do not have public wastewater infrastructure to enable them to develop that through Irish Water. The senior Minister was down in Broadford and in a number of other parts of County Clare during the summer and I am very aware of the problem that if infrastructure is not there to support development in a small town or village, there is a very significant problem for the locality and society as a whole. The Department will try to implement a number of schemes in that context in small towns and villages in rural counties, which will provide the assurance and certainty for development to happen. The great aspect of that method is that it is through Irish Water, its future is guaranteed, as are the environmental considerations and operation of the infrastructure. In that context, we believe that Irish Water is the best mechanism through which this can be delivered.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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To clarify then on the taking-in-charge process, if a system was built to a certain standard approved by the Department, surely Irish Water should be in a position to take over a plant such as that. Is that something that the Department will give consideration to? As I said, there are 52 settlements in County Clare alone, not to mention the rest of the country, which do not have these standard basic facilities. This is an interim solution where a private developer can be brought in to provide this basic infrastructure and Irish Water can then be allowed to take it in charge. It would facilitate the development of these key small settlements in County Clare and throughout the country.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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We have a specific taking-in-charge initiative, underpinned by a budget, which has worked in taking 330 estates containing more than 14,900 homes in charge. As to what the Deputy has outlined in the context of the taking in charge by Irish Water of a treatment plant, that depends on the criteria and there should not be an issue with that. If he has an example of that he might revert to us with it and the Minister and myself will have a look at it. I assure him that in the context of the work that he has done in the summer in County Clare highlighting those settlements that do not have the infrastructure to develop, that we are acutely aware of these. We will respond with a scheme to hopefully facilitate towns and villages as referred to by the Deputy so that they have the certainty into the future and have first-class infrastructure to allow them to develop in a sustainable way. That is critical for all society.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Rachaidh mé ar ais mar tá Teachtaí Dála anseo. I will return now to the list of parliamentary questions again. I call now Deputy Boyd Barrett on Question No. 13..