Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, for being here to deal with this matter. I am concerned about the stand-alone sewage treatment facilities that were built right across the entire country back between 2000 to 2008.

Companies then ended up in NAMA and no one seems to have taken responsibility for the management of these sewage treatment facilities. It came to a head in the past two weeks in Castlewhite, Whitechurch, County Cork. Forty houses have access to a sewage treatment facility in which the sewers get totally blocked up. The local authority says it has no responsibility to deal with it but Cork County Council took action and came out to resolve the problems. I have been liaising with that council since then. Technically, the council is not in charge of the scheme. Irish Water says it is not prepared to take it in charge. We have been left with a dilemma as a result.

My understanding is that there are well over 400 such facilities across the country. Ongoing work needs to be done on them. They are not up to standard and we have no policy in place in respect of them. I was sent alarming photographs in the past week showing raw sewage outside and very close to the facility I refer to, which may well contaminate local streams, etc. I ask that the matter be given priority and that a mechanism be put in place between Irish Water and the local authorities in order to ensure that there will be a proper management.

The other interesting point I do not understand concerns the new houses being built in the area. They seem to be using this treatment facility. How is this happening when no one seems to be in charge of management or maintenance? This is one example. In County Cork alone, there are more than 20 facilities affected by this dilemma. No organisation is in charge, there are no management companies in place and there are serious threats to the local environment as a result. Action needs to be taken.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo. I will outline the response from the Department, but I say at the outset that the conditions the Deputy describes are unacceptable. I have seen other parts of the country where this has been the case. It is a practice which should not have taken place but did. Such cases need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

The position on resolving wastewater treatment facilities built by developers to service housing estates and estates that have not been taken in charge by the local authority is as follows. Residential estates normally receive their water services – that is disposal of wastewater and supply of drinking water – from the Irish Water network. These estates are subsequently taken in charge in the normal way by the planning authority, and Irish Water takes responsibility for the water services in these estates. A small subset of estates are not taken in charge and do not have their water services networks connected to the Irish Water network and instead rely on water services infrastructure provided by the developer. This infrastructure provided by the developer of the estate is also called stand-alone developer-provided infrastructure, DPI. They are privately owned facilities. Much of this developer-provided infrastructure, consisting of small stand-alone wastewater treatment plants which were put in place in the 1990s and early 2000s, is now at the end of or past its useful working life.

In 2019, my Department introduced the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme to provide funding for the progressive resolution of housing estates with legacy DPI issues. All DPI estates, regardless of their origins, including those in NAMA, were eligible for consideration. The focus of this first programme is on estates in towns and villages where the resolution is to connect their water services to the Irish Water network. This will enable Irish Water to take responsibility for the ongoing operation and management of the water service in the estate, once the estate is taken in charge by the planning authority.

On 21 September 2020, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, announced allocations of just over €3.36 million for 26 estates across ten counties with almost 950 households to benefit under the new programme, to enable the taking in charge of these estates. This announcement was the first tranche of funding in projects for investment under the new programme. Further investment will follow over a number of funding cycles to fully resolve DPI estates. The programme will also support a number of pilot projects where connection to the Irish Water network is not feasible in the immediate future. These pilot projects, together with a major study being undertaken by Irish Water that is due for completion in quarter 2 of 2022, will inform future policy considerations on resolving substandard developer-provided infrastructure with sustainable solutions.

Under the approvals announced by the Minister in September 2020, local authorities were asked to consider further estates requiring funding for resolution within their functional area. Arising from this process, valid bids for estates were received from a number of local authorities. My Department is awaiting a report from the expert panel tasked with evaluating the bids. The Minister expects a report from the panel in the coming weeks and a decision on funding will quickly follow.

I acknowledge the issues highlighted by the Deputy. They are unsafe for communities and need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. My understanding is that there is now a connection from this treatment plant directly into a pumping station that pumps sewage into a facility for Irish Water, in towards Cork city. That connection is with an Irish Water sewage treatment facility but no one seems to be taking responsibility for the individual treatment facility that is servicing Castlewhite in Whitechurch.

There is the added problem that no local authority will take estates in charge where Irish Water has not taken the sewage treatment facilities in charge. There are cases of developments whose builders have gone into NAMA and there is no management company in place. These are housing estates, not apartment blocks. There is no one responsible for the management of sewage treatment. If there is any other problem in the estate, whether roads, footpaths or any issue, no one is taking it on board. When people purchased these houses, the builder paid money to the local authority in charges. There were also bonds in place and my understanding is many of the bonds in respect of these estates were never drawn down because something was not completed. That is an issue because the banks or people who provided the bonds to the builders are saying they have no legal duty to the local authority and, therefore, will not pay up on them. The receivers are not taking action either.

Those issues are still overhanging from 2008 and we need to bring a resolution in respect of estates which do not have a proper management structure for sewage treatment and there is nothing in the pipeline in relation to their being taken in charge.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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On the issue the Deputy mentioned in Castlewhite, if there is a connection to a pumping station that is an Irish Water facility, we will look into it with Irish Water. It is important. If the potential is there to resolve the issue, it should be resolved. Perhaps this scheme under our Department might be of assistance. We will look into that.

On bonds and the process of taking in charge, local authorities need to work proactively with Irish Water and any other relevant party on the outstanding wastewater infrastructural issues and the wider issues around the process of taking in charge to try to resolve those for residents and communities. That is critical.

The Department has a programme in place to assist in bringing a resolution to these issues over a number of funding cycles. This applies to all relevant developments, regardless of whether they are in NAMA or not. If the Deputy has any specific additional information in relation to developments, we will ask our officials to examine it.

Given the magnitude of the potential funding liability to sustainably resolve the situation relating to DPI estates, the Department has asked Irish Water to carry out a study to support it in developing optimum solutions for these developments. The study is scheduled to be completed by the summer and will inform future iterations of the funding programme. If there is any additional information the Deputy wants to provide to us, we commit to trying to get a resolution.