Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Minister is sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak about water. Water is a precious resource. It is critical to our health, our environment and our economy. Access to safe and clean drinking water for everyone is a top priority for the Government. We know it is essential.

The Government's water policies are centred on what is called the EU water framework directive. This directive requires all member states to protect and to improve water quality in our rivers, lakes, groundwater and transitional coastal waters. This is done through river basin management plans and water action plans, which my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, will address in further detail.

A secure, safe and reliable water service and supply and the provision of quality wastewater treatment are a priority. Crucially, this also facilitates the development of homes in all parts of our country. As Minister for housing, I believe that the delivery of quality water must be hand in glove with the acceleration in our delivery of homes across all tenures and all parts of this country, from our islands to our villages, and from our provincial towns to our cities.

I want to speak about water service delivery. It plays an essential role in enabling economic growth, social inclusion, environmental sustainability and the delivery of our housing need. Uisce Éireann supplies drinking water to over 80% of the population, with two thirds of households connected to public wastewater services. The Uisce Éireann network consists of tens of thousands of kilometres of pipelines, along with thousands of treatment plants and pumping stations. Simply keeping our water infrastructure running every day is an enormous task.

The process of establishing Uisce Éireann as a stand-alone public utility continues to be a work in progress. There is no doubt about that. It is only at the end of this year that the link with local authorities will finally be broken, and that has been necessary, even if it has taken time. The motivation for a stand-alone utility stems from the inherent inefficiencies of the fragmented network that was operated by 31 local authorities. It has been stated and acknowledged many times in this House that a legacy of underinvestment in our water infrastructure by the local authorities means there are many challenges that Uisce Éireann is now seeking to address.

Uisce Éireann is also providing for significantly increased capacity for future business and population growth. We all see the evidence of the challenges in our constituencies linked to creaking infrastructure or the demands of growth. The scale of the remedial work on the vast network is extensive and will take years to fully resolve.

That is why the Government has committed unprecedented funding to Uisce Éireann as part of the national development plan. This investment in our water services will cover every part of our water infrastructure and every community, from the smallest to the largest, both urban and rural. All Exchequer investment needs to occur in a timely and efficient manner with proper evaluation to ensure value for money. In this regard Uisce Éireann is subject to rigorous financial scrutiny by way of dual audit from the Comptroller and Auditor General and by a commercial auditor along with being accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts. Uisce Éireann is also subject to economic regulation by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. The CRU provides a constraint over Uisce Éireann revenue, approving investment plans while monitoring performance and ensuring it runs efficiently. The economic regulatory process involves extensive public consultation on Uisce Éireann funding, investment plans and performance. In fact, the CRU has an open public consultation on Uisce Éireann's plans for 2025 to 2029, which is due to close on Tuesday, 27 January. I encourage a broad base of the public to engage with this consultation call. The CRU also has a role in protecting domestic and non-domestic customers by approving service standards, handling complaints and dispute resolution for customer complaints that cannot be resolved with Uisce Éireann.

Uisce Éireann communicates with a diverse and large group of customers, communities and stakeholders through multiple channels daily. These include online, digital and social media channels along with a free text alert service providing water supply updates and information to customers across 1.6 million households and businesses. Uisce Éireann has been proactive in establishing a local authority liaison office, which meets with councils across the country. This provides a dedicated service for elected representatives and deals with tens of thousands of queries each year from all elected representatives, including Members of the Oireachtas. I certainly want to see this improved as we go forward.

Transformation is ongoing. It is important to remind ourselves that Uisce Éireann and the public water sector are still going through a significant transformation process. This year is a pivotal one as the transfer deadline for local water services staff fast approaches. Next year will see Uisce Éireann reach its end-state structure and settle into being Ireland's single public water utility. However, and as we heard in the House last week, there are concerns around the effectiveness of the communication from Uisce Éireann to elected representatives. This is something I have directly spoken to the chairperson of the Uisce Éireann board about. I am assured the organisation recognises that work needs to be done to improve this. Therefore, I have asked Uisce Éireann to review its approach to communications and engagement, in particular with Members of this House, as a matter of priority.

In terms of national development plan, NDP, funding, Uisce Éireann has allocated €1.7 billion for a new additional growth programme that will support accelerated housing delivery. Uisce Éireann has identified 72 strategic settlements through reviews of the national planning framework; regional spatial and economic strategies; and county development plans and local area plans. These include Ireland's key towns, regional growth centres and cities, in addition to other large towns with considerable forecasted housing growth. My Department has engaged with Uisce Éireann, and Uisce Éireann will shortly write to the CEOs of Ireland's 31 local authorities, outlining its plans to support new housing delivery and achieve the national housing target of 300,000 new homes by 2030. This is part of Uisce Éireann's aim of sharing as much detail as possible with local authorities and local planning authorities to inform local planning decisions over the coming years.

In addition to this accelerated growth programme, Uisce Éireann is embarking on some of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Ireland to meet our future growth and societal needs. The water supply project for the eastern and midlands region is a generational project and will be one of the largest ever undertaken in the history of the State. It will deliver a safe, secure, sustainable source of water supply to the eastern and midlands region. It will achieve this by bringing treated water from the Parteen Basin in County Tipperary to Peamount in Dublin. The pipeline will have the capacity for offtakes along the route in counties Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath. It will also enable supplies serving Dublin to be redirected back locally in counties Carlow, Wicklow, Meath and Louth, bringing benefits to the Dublin region and the wider eastern and midlands region. The delivery of this generational project is critical to sustainable economic growth, enabling housing delivery and attracting investment to support Ireland's growing population for the next 30 years and beyond.

In tandem with the water supply project, the greater Dublin drainage project, GDD, is critical to facilitate growth in the greater Dublin area. The new wastewater treatment plant will be situated in the southern fringes of Fingal, immediately outside the M50 motorway in County Dublin, and will serve north Dublin and parts of the surrounding counties of Kildare and Meath. The GDD will provide the additional treatment and network capacity to support the long-term sustainable growth of the greater Dublin region and ensure that Ireland continues to meet our objectives under European law.

Just yesterday the Government approved in principle a major upgrade for the wastewater treatment plant at Bunlicky, serving Limerick city. This major project represents a major investment in the mid-west and is just one of many that Uisce Éireann will progress this year. Macroom, Ballyconneely, Claremorrris and Clonmel, among others, will also see major upgrades to their water infrastructure this year, with more such projects to come over the lifetime of the NDP. These projects will benefit all our communities, both urban and rural.

Rural communities that are not served by Uisce Éireann also depend on safe and reliable water and wastewater services, and this Government is committed to sustaining these services for the future. My Department, through the rural water programme, supports these households and communities by ensuring access to safe, reliable and sustainable drinking water and wastewater services in rural areas. Around 180,000 households are supplied through group water schemes, while many other rural homes rely on private wells and on-site wastewater systems, predominately septic tanks. These households and communities are a central focus of Government investment and policy. Under the NDP, €230 million is being invested in rural water services out to 2030 through a comprehensive package of supports. This includes significant capital investment in group water schemes and local water infrastructure, operational funding for schemes, targeted household grants, and support for the National Federation of Group Water Schemes to strengthen governance and capacity. I have already approved funding for hundreds of rural water projects across the country. These range from large-scale treatment upgrades serving entire communities to smaller, but vital, works that improve water quality, security of supply and environmental compliance at local level. These investments are delivering safer, more reliable water services and greater resilience for rural communities. They also demonstrate the Government's strong and ongoing commitment to supporting rural households and improving rural water services.

The developer-led infrastructure initiative, which was approved by the Government in late 2025, represents a further important step. It provides a new approach to supporting new housing delivery in areas not served by Uisce Éireann by increasing private sector involvement in appropriate wastewater solutions. Uisce Éireann, as the national water supplier, is now in a position to engage with developers on this initiative, and I expect it to be rolled out in locations across the country during 2026.

This approach will support the delivery of new housing in rural areas while ensuring that environmental and public health standards are maintained. It will deliver tangible benefits for rural communities. The Government is committed to making sure that all areas of water policy and water services are strengthened with regard to environmental compliance and water and wastewater infrastructure, so that all our communities feel the benefits of the unprecedented NDP investment in the water sector.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for bringing us through the progress that has been made on water service delivery, including the record levels of investment in the water sector. I welcome the opportunity to speak on water again this week. I will focus on water quality and policies. Water is our most valuable resource. It is vital to our health, our economy and our environment. Securing a safe and reliable water supply is a top priority for the Government. Access to healthy rivers and lakes, groundwater and bathing waters is essential for citizens, nature and industries. Ireland has an abundance of natural water resources. However, freshwater for human use is a relatively scarce and limited resource that needs protection. The Government's water services policy statement sets out the high-level policy framework relating to the provision of water services generally out to 2030. It defines the Government's three strategic policy objectives and priorities that must be pursued in delivering and improving water and wastewater services.

The first objective is availability and reliability, whereby water services will support balanced regional development by improving public and private water services through continued investment in infrastructure. The second objective is safety and quality, whereby water services will be safe and protect human health. The third objective is sustainability, whereby water services will be efficient, resilient and sustainable in the long term. The Minister, Deputy Browne, addressed how the first two objectives are being delivered through the delivery of water services for urban and rural communities. The third objective is addressed through the water sector adaptation plan, which was launched by my Department last November, and the water action plan, which was launched in November 2024. The adaptation plan outlines strategies to build a resilient water system against climate change impacts, focusing on improving water quality, securing infrastructure and managing resources through integrated catchment management, infrastructure upgrades, conservation and nature-based solutions like sustainable urban drainage systems. The overarching legislation on water quality is the EU water framework directive, which requires all member states to protect and improve water quality in all our water bodies. The Irish river basin district covers an area of over 70,000 sq. km, with 4,842 water bodies.

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, oversees and implements the national water quality monitoring programme, which is designed to assess the overall condition of our rivers, lakes, canals, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwaters. The latest EPA report on water quality for the period from 2019 to 2024 shows that 52% of Irish surface waters are achieving at least good status, compared with 54% for the previous reporting period from 2016 to 2021. Excess nutrients remain the largest threat to water quality, and this is impacted by urban wastewater, agriculture and legacy forestry. However, notwithstanding the deterioration over the period, the EPA report shows that surface water nutrient concentrations from agriculture have reduced overall since the peak in 2018-19. I thank and acknowledge all our farming communities for the significant progress that is being made in that respect. The EPA report also shows that where actions are being targeted in priority areas for action, there is a statistically significant improvement in phosphorus concentrations.

In accordance with the water framework directive, Ireland has implemented a series of river basin management plans, which are specific programmes of environmental measures to protect and restore water quality. To protect natural waters from the negative impact of human activities, many such activities are controlled through environmental authorisation, enforcement and compliance. This ensures that activities are safe and sustainable. These types of control systems include, for example, wastewater discharge licensing by the EPA and local authorities, the agricultural nitrates regulations, and environmental regulations through the planning system. Controls also include a range of other binding codes of practice for the purpose of protecting waters including, for example, domestic wastewater treatment systems and pesticides use. Most activities posing a risk to water quality must be carried out in a way that is compatible with good water quality. Comprehensive water quality standards have been established for the purpose of protecting water quality.

While most activities posing a risk to water quality are regulated in some way or other, it remains a challenge to enforce environmental regulations and achieve full compliance. We also continue to pursue those activities that are not adequately controlled at present, strengthening controls and filling regulatory gaps. Our most recent plan, the Water Action Plan 2024: A River Basin Management Plan for Ireland, is derived from the water framework directive and outlines the additional measures that we will take to protect and restore our natural water resources, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. These measures include ongoing actions and investment across critical sectors, such as agriculture, forestry and water service provision, that bear the greatest burden in tackling pollution.

The NDP funding provides for €306 million in investment to support additional targeted measures to restore and improve water quality in rural and urban settings, as well as improving river habitats. This funding will support a wide range of capital investment in water protection initiatives operated by the local authorities, by the EPA, by Inland Fisheries Ireland, and directly by my Department. This will include the development of specific, evidence-based, targeted programmes to drive water quality improvement. Firstly, the farming for water European investment partnership, EIP, that was launched in March 2024 aims to support farmers in the implementation of supplementary measures on farmland where agricultural activities can impact water quality. Secondly, a scheme which will fund urban nature-based solution projects will be undertaken by local authorities to manage surface water drainage and rainfall. Finally, a national river barrier mitigation programme will fund the removal of barriers in our rivers or the mitigation of their impacts.

I recognise the role of local authorities in protecting our waters. Co-operation with and support of local authorities is at the core of all our work in this area. The local authority waters programme office is a local authority shared service provided jointly by Tipperary and Kilkenny local authorities and funded by my Department. It works on behalf of Ireland's 31 local authorities to protect and restore good water quality in our rivers, lakes, estuaries, groundwater and coastal water through catchment science and local community engagement. The local authority waters programme office will have responsibility for delivery of the programmes relating to farming and urban drainage that I mentioned earlier. One example of the work undertaken by the office is the River Nore catchment. The office has focused on community engagement, as protecting our rivers is a shared responsibility. This includes facilitating water quality training through the local biodiversity officer, and heritage week events. In addition, the office's catchment scientists will carry out local catchment assessments in 13 priority areas for action in the Nore catchment. These assessments will work to identify reasons for declined water quality and the actions needed to secure improvements. This is just one example of the work being carried out around the country that is supported and funded by my Department. This local level work complements our continued and increasing investments in upgrading our water infrastructure. It also complements the funding for innovative new approaches such as nature-based solutions, and the direct engagement with farmers that my Department is also supporting.

Finally, I acknowledge the strong co-operation across Government Departments, State agencies, non-government organisations and communities in the development and implementation of these water quality programmes and initiatives. One example I have seen that is an excellent case in point is the ecopark that has been established in Dunhill. It is a nature-based solution which services the community in the area. It has been highlighted many times before and has created a real sense of community that has been added to and which also serves a function. We will continue as a Government to invest in water because of its importance. The co-operation of all stakeholders plays a key part in that.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy Pa Daly has requested copies of the speeches of the Minister and Minister of State. I think we have an agreement that opening statements will be provided. Maybe we could get them before the end of the debate.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I will have my office circulate them.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thanks. I appreciate that.

We have a number of Members missing. We will stick to the time. If someone does not turn up, the benefit will go to whoever is left in the group. I call Deputy Conway-Walsh to begin the Sinn Féin slot.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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That is really good because it is unusual for Mayo to be first. I wish to talk about the situation with water in County Mayo and, in particular, with group water schemes. Let me be very clear: the people in Mayo are just as important as the people living anywhere else in this State. I know the Minister and the Minister of State will agree with that. They have a right to water, a right to clear running water, and a right to access water 24-7.

I want to talk first about homes in areas like Glensaul in Toormakeady, in Craggagh near Balla and in parts of north Mayo where there are clusters of fewer than 25 houses. The rules for funding exclude them from getting a water supply. That is just not right. This is a weakness in the system and the criteria must be relaxed. Funding must be provided so that Mayo County Council can get on with the work and the households can get on with their lives. I ask the Minister and Minister of State to listen to what I am saying because I am providing them with solutions. I do not want to be standing up here again in front of them speaking about water in Mayo.

The second thing I want addressed is the eight schemes in Mayo that are waiting at the moment - there are others in the pipeline - to be taken in charge by Uisce Éireann. Six of them have not been taken in charge because of debt. Some of them have been with Uisce Éireann for the past seven years. Uisce Éireann will not take over one of these schemes because it is being fed by another scheme with leak issues. Debts on these schemes have mounted up over the years, through nobody's fault. With the pipes deteriorating and leaks happening, the volunteers and the households in the scheme cannot be held to ransom over these leaks. Can the Minister get Uisce Éireann to write off the debts, take over the schemes and just get on with it? These debts are going to be there for 100 years. They are not going to be paid by anyone; they cannot be paid by anyone.

We need flexibility between the local authority and the Department to find and execute solutions. I commend the rural water section in Mayo County Council on its work. Indeed, Michael McDermott, who has just left that division, did excellent work too. There are just not enough of staff members to do what needs to be done for the delivery of water in the county. I know there is an emergency staffing request in and I am absolutely certain that every elected representative in the county will support this request. It would be unthinkable that unspent money would be clawed back by the Department at the end of the year just because we do not have sufficient staff in the water section to deliver the projects. I welcome that Mayo County Council has been selected as the pilot county for the new-look multi-annual rural water programme, MARWP, which starts in June next year, but without the necessary staff, this work cannot be done. Has the Minister done comparisons between the counties to ascertain how many schemes have been taken in charge in each county? I think he will find that Mayo is hovering the bottom there, so that needs to be looked at.

I will sum up my requests for today. I ask the Minister to allow flexibility in the funding criteria to allow for all households to have a water supply, get Irish Water to formally take over the schemes presented by Mayo County Council, get Irish Water to write off the debts run up because of neglected infrastructure-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. She is now in Deputy Doherty's time.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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-----and please let me not be standing here again on this issue.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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We are told time and time again by this Government that water services have been improving, that everything is now under control and that Uisce Éireann is fit for purpose. In fact, Uisce Éireann is so content with the job it is doing that it gave €21,000 in bonuses for good performances, no less, in 2024 to hundreds of its highest paid executives, some already earning over €200,000 a year. If Uisce Éireann or indeed the Minister or Minister of State were to come to County Donegal, they would see the reality of a litany of failure and a total lack of accountability. In particular, they should come to Glenfin. I invite the Minister and Minister of State, in particular, to come to Glenfin. It is a beautiful area of Donegal, but the issue there is that there is no running water for the households. There are 40 households there, including families, elderly people and children, and they have no running water at all. They rely on wells to bring water to their homes. There is no public water in that community. That is 40 homes left without basic public services in 2026, despite me repeatedly raising it here in the Dáil with the Minister, the Minister of State and with Irish Water-Uisce Éireann over the years. It is a scandal.

If we look at our island communities, and I raised this point last week, they are treated as second-class citizens. The water quality on Arranmore and on Tory Island is regularly extremely poor. On the island of Gabhla, off the coast of Donegal from my own community of Gaoth Dobhair, there is no running water at all. The pipe burst six months ago. The Minister knows about this. I spoke to him about it and to the Minister for the Gaeltacht. I wrote to both of them over six months ago, and still there are no plans - nothing, nada, zilch. There is no idea and no timeframe for when water will be restored to that community. I took the State to court, through the European courts, as a result of its failure in the Gaoth Dobhair sewage scheme. It connected 50 houses, and then it said there were no plans to do the rest of the scheme. It is simply unacceptable.

Social housing, private housing, businesses and hotels cannot progress as a result of Uisce Éireann saying it does not have a timeframe for it. It is a complete lack of accountability. It is not acceptable in this day and age. I invite the Minister and the Minister of State to come to Donegal, to go to Glenfin, to go out to Gabhla to talk to the people in that area who rely on the tourism product there, and to come to Gaoth Dobhair and look at the projects that are stalled because Uisce Éireann is not making the investment in rural areas. It is time this ended. We need accountability and investment in rural areas and basic infrastructure in the year of 2026.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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Can the Minister imagine if the water he and his family were drinking was poisonous or if the water was poisonous for their families and children and he found out this had been going on for three years? This is the situation on the north side of Cork city. It is actually unbelievable that the manganese levels are so dangerous. This is not me saying this; it is Uisce Éireann-Irish Water itself, based on testing it has done which we have got through freedom of information. This proves the manganese level is not fit for human consumption, but still there have been no "Do Not Consume" notices put out. No warnings have been given to the public. This is a fact. I have raised this issue here with the Minister, in the housing committee and with Irish Water. We have all the information that proves water in Cork can be toxic and dangerous to human beings when consumed. How could this be allowed anywhere? I know some people might not have water and some might have bad quality water, but I am talking about water that is poison. This is not according to Thomas Gould or Sinn Féin, but according to the World Health Organization, the European Union, Uisce Éireann, the HSE and the EPA, and no one is doing anything. It is like Pontius Pilate; everyone is washing their hands, and they will not protect the people of Cork North-Central.

If this was happening in a leafy suburb where the Minister for Health comes from or where some of the other Ministers, the Tánaiste or the Taoiseach come from, it would not be accepted. This would not be accepted anywhere. There seems to be an attitude that does not worry about them fellows on the north side of Cork at all. Well, I am worried about them because they elect me to come up here and to stand up for them. The water has been poisoned for three years in Cork and still we do not have an investigation. Where is the EPA? Its job is to protect the people. Where is the HSE? Do you know what it is telling me? It is saying that it is getting its results from Irish Water. We have the results and they show that the water is not drinkable. Sometimes, when you run the tap and the water is brown and dirty, you say, "Well, I will not drink it then". The most dangerous part of the situation here is that even when the water runs clean, it is tested and is not fit for human consumption. We have the reports. We have them. Just to let the Minister know, I want to say a major "thank you" to Fred Logue and the Friends of the Irish Environment and the residents of Mount Farran and The Glen who are taking Irish Water to court. Court cases are ongoing at the moment. I want to send a special "thank you" to Gabriel Scally-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. That is his time.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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There might be a small bit more time because of the absent Members. I will just mention that Gabriel Scally was instrumental in exposing CervicalCheck. They are exposing Irish Water and what it is doing to the people of Cork. These court cases will be coming up in the new year and people will have to answer the question of how this has been allowed to happen.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The first thing I wish to speak about are the ancient wastewater systems in parts of County Kerry. I could list six or seven villages, such as Ballyduff, Fenit, Glenbeigh, Kilcummin, Abbeydorney and Castlegregory in particular, where, in effect, although some progress has been made in Kilcummin, we have a hole in the ground.

In Castlegregory, it is within 40 yd of a school building. In Fenit and Castlegregory, it is within 100 yd or so of a Blue Flag beach. The wastewater from those villages is pouring out into a hole. There is an overflow tank dug into the ground which has been there for decades. I do not see anything in the national development plan. I do not see anything in any of the programmes that is going to address the needs of the places like Ballyduff and Duagh, where this system has to be upgraded in a hurry.

It is also affecting the rights of people to build and construct housing and be close to their own villages. Over the past 20 or 25 years in particular, there has been an emphasis from planners to make it more difficult to live in one-off houses and to cluster them in villages. In places like Fenit and Abbeydorney, you cannot build more than two houses together because the wastewater treatment system is not even in place. There have been proposals to construct facilities which would benefit the community in those places but they have not been able to proceed with them because the infrastructure is not there to take any additional wastewater. That is something that needs to be addressed.

I also want to address the Minister about water quality in the rivers, particularly in the catchment area or the upriver of the Feale. We all saw what happened with the flood just before the last general election. There is a problem in the Smearlagh and Awbeg Rivers because there have been a lot of plantations of forestry with vertical drainage. After a flood, it used to take two to three days to fill up, and the anglers would look for that. Now it is two to three hours. It is coming down in a flood and is scouring the banks. We saw the catastrophic effects near the town of Listowel in Killacrim after the flood 16 months ago. That is something which has not been taken into account at all in the OPW's analysis of what happened. It must be looked at. Not only is it affecting those communities but it is wiping out stocks of brown trout and salmon in those tributaries. I am asking the Minister to have a look at that in the programmes he is announcing.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I asked some of my councillor colleagues in Donegal to give me feedback about their involvement with Uisce Éireann and their perspectives. I have been speaking to quite a lot of people in Donegal since statements on the issues with Uisce Éireann last week. This issue of communication is universal. As I said to the Minister last week, and he must agree with this, it is absolutely unacceptable that there is not a list of phone numbers that a public representative can ring. If you are dealing with any other State agency, there are senior people you can call and have a conversation with offline to understand what is going on and to properly communicate for your constituents. We continue to have to work with emails. The problem with that is it takes days to respond. Sometimes you need a response quickly and you cannot wait days. The Minister knows that as a long-standing public representative. This issue has to be sorted out. It is at the core of the culture that is there.

I raise the lack of accountability. It is a culture of arrogance. There are so many concerns. Staff used to be in the local authorities across the State. Now there is this centralisation and outsourcing to huge numbers of companies. There are big concerns about the efficiencies of that, of whether there is a much bigger cost now to do work that used to cost a lot less when it was under the control of the local authorities with dedicated staff. There are big concerns.

I meet with the HSE about health matters. I meet Donegal County Council regularly. I can lift the phone to anybody - the hospitals, the schools and every single public service I can think of. However, here we have this crucial service of water and sewerage and you cannot get answers and accountability in a timely fashion. You can send an email and get a response in due course. Often that is not good enough. It does not work and is not sustainable.

I want to talk about the Eddie Fullerton Dam. It is named after my late and great colleague, Councillor Eddie Fullerton, who fought for that for years. It is a massive project based just outside Buncrana on the Inishowen peninsula. It was always understood that this water would also be used to help other communities in Donegal. The water is being directed up to Letterkenny, our major county town. That is fine with me but two other things have to happen in tandem with that. It should not be going past houses that are being left behind on the Inishowen peninsula. It should benefit the Inishowen peninsula. It should benefit Letterkenny but there should also be other infrastructure plans other than Letterkenny. I said this last week and will say it again but if Uisce Éireann was around then, I do not think it would have happened. That is the way it was then. It happened and the project drove on. Uisce Éireann has inherited this fantastic dam, reservoir, project and water supply. It is an absolute blessing but it is not developing around the hills of Letterkenny and it is bypassing homes in Inishowen. It is causing friction and concern.

If I could get speaking to senior officials in Irish Water, I would not have to make this speech. My final appeal to the Minister is to please make it clear that it is time for respect for public representatives and communities. It is time for answers and accountability from Uisce Éireann. It is time for an end to the culture of arrogance.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak today. Priority or urgent areas of focus for me include the need for new water mains in Dunboyne and Duleek but with the limited time available to me, I will restrict my comments to the urgent need for investment in surface water and wastewater infrastructure in Kells, County Meath. These issues are long identified but the responsible authorities from top to bottom and bottom to top have failed to address them. As confirmed to my council colleague, Councillor Michael Gallagher, at a recent council meeting, specific local failures during storms include the culvert in Riverside estate, the pipe crossing on the R147 at the local graveyard, the gully on the R164 Athboy road and those in the back lanes at Headfort Grove. These are not isolated problems but symptoms of a failing decades-old infrastructure. While the promised remedial works at these four locations are urgently needed, they are only a start. We need a full town audit of the antiquated network in Kells. This is essential for future-proofing the town against increasingly frequent deluges, like today, and for supporting responsible development.

We cannot look at surface water in isolation. The wastewater infrastructure in Kells is also under severe strain, as detailed in the Kells sewerage scheme network upgrade report from January 2020. The report makes clear that approximately 13 km of our existing sewer network requires intervention to meet modern standards. In its recommendation, it recommends decommissioning and removal of the Blackwater flow combined sewer overflow, CSO, and conveyance of flows downstream to the wastewater treatment plant. It calls for significant investment in the wastewater treatment plant itself, including by constructing a new storm tank. There is a number of other significant proposals that have not been actioned six years later. These are not minor projects. We must have a twin track investment strategy that addresses both our surface water and wastewater systems in an integrated way. The solutions are there. What we need is the commitment and funding from the Government to implement them.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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One of the big issues we have as parliamentarians is when we write to the Minister, he writes back to us and says he cannot talk to us and to talk to Irish Water. That is one of the big problems that an awful lot of Members of this Dáil have. Continuously, I have written to various Ministers, the Minister and the Ministers of State about issues about water.

The can is always kicked to Irish Water. All we get from Irish Water is a very curt reply if we get any at all. That is a problem. Irish Water is not a private company. I need to repeat that; it is not a private company.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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It is a public company and, therefore, it has a public responsibility to answer public representatives and it does not do that. The Minister cannot also abdicate his responsibilities around that. That is the first point I want to make, and I hope the Minister hears that point very clearly. We will no longer accept this notion that the Minister - water and local government are covered in his brief - is not going answer questions around Uisce Éireann. Please, make sure that that practice ends in his Department and Ministry.

The issues have been well aired regarding various problems in different parts of country. They are no different in my area. They are no different, particularly in parts of County Leitrim, where there are towns where the wastewater system is at maximum capacity already. Even if planning permission is given to build 50 houses in places like Mohill, Drumshanbo or other towns, they cannot get a letter from Uisce Éireann saying that they can go ahead with that because the capacity is not there to do it. That is the same in an awful lot of areas. At the moment, for the whole of south Leitrim, water that is treated comes from the River Shannon, outside of Carrick-on-Shannon. There is a big treatment facility there. That treatment facility is at 120% capacity. It is producing more water than it was designed to produce. If there is a burst or problem, we all have a serious issue.

That brings me to the example I have written to the Minister about and he has kicked back the letter saying to talk to Uisce Éireann regarding it. There is a group scheme in an area outside of Drumshanbo, which is up on the mountain. This group scheme takes its water from a set of spring wells in the mountains. There are thousands of acres. It is a clear open mountain. The water is of the highest quality. Naturally, to meet the requirements, it has to get a small level of treatment. It applied to Uisce Éireann to get the grants to upgrade its treatment facilities. It will not give them the grants. It says, "No. We want to take over your supply." It wants to take it in charge. That is fine. However, when it talked about taking it in charge, it said that if takes it in charge, it will no longer use that water. It will pump the water from Carrick-on-Shannon up the top of the mountain, even though at the moment it cannot supply enough of it for everywhere else. This particular group scheme has not got one pump because all houses on it are kilometres below and with gravity it flows to everybody. The running costs of it are negligible. Yet, Uisce Éireann refuses to give the scheme the small grant its needs to provide the practices that need to be in place to keep the water clean.

There is a big problem here. The problem is that nobody wants to think outside of the box. When you create Uisce Éireann or projects like that, it simply closes down everything and no project can go ahead because it has to have its rules and regulations in place. I ask the Minister to keep those points in mind.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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Communities across the State, particularly rural communities, are paying the price for decades of underinvestment in our water and wastewater infrastructure. This leads to issues in terms of public health, the environment and particularly housing. A total of 70% of the land that is zoned for housing in County Galway cannot be built on because of infrastructural deficits, including water and wastewater. We see big announcements in terms of funding but we do not see delivery on the ground. Funding was announced three years ago for the provision of wastewater infrastructure in Clarinbridge and Craughwell in County Galway. Since then, these projects have been at a standstill. The costs have gone up. Before Christmas, we saw Government TDs welcoming an increase of funding for the project. However, the Government still has not addressed the main barrier to delivering these projects, which is a requirement that Galway County Council provides matched funding of several million euro. If the project goes over budget, the local authority would have to cover the costs. Galway County Council does not have this money. It has not budgeted for it. The investment will not generate any financial return for the council either. It will be handed over to Uisce Éireann once the project is completed. How can the county council be expected to foot this bill for millions?

I have raised this matched funding requirement with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, a number of times. I still have not received an answer on it. It seems like penny pinching by the Government. This needs to be sorted because it is holding up these projects which are so badly needed. This is having such an impact on the people of Craughwell and Clarinbridge, the local environment and housing. How are we going to solve the housing crisis if we cannot get basic things like this right? I ask the Minister to address this. We need this cofunding requirement to be taken away to ensure that these projects can finally get moving. Not to mention the dozens of other towns and villages across County Galway where there is the same lack of adequate wastewater infrastructure but no funding has been forthcoming, which I have raised here on a number of occasions. This includes the likes of Corofin, Abbeyknockmoy, Ardrahan and Monivea. We are still waiting for the Mountbellew scheme to progress. We need to see funding forthcoming. We need to get delivery of these projects right too.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his speech. To try to be somewhat constructive, we had good news from the Government this week with the €250 million announcement in my constituency into water treatment in Bunlicky near Mungret, County Limerick. That is important because once the work is done the capacity of that plant will be able to serve 285,000 people. This is more than double what it can do at the moment. This is vital because the population of Limerick is going to go up by 50% under the targets that are there.

As a country, we are in a sense fundamentally not serious about the way we treat water and the way we treat Uisce Éireann as a utility that provides critical infrastructure. The issues Deputies have had around the country have been well aired at this stage. The fact of the matter is that Uisce Éireann should have a multi-annual funding settlement. Every year, it has to enter the budgetary process in the same way as social protection, education, justice and so on and, essentially, bid for its fair share. This creates an uncertainty and hinders its ability to plan and deliver the long-term infrastructure projects that we need. Some of these projects can take five or ten years.

As we emerge from what is essentially a lost decade when it comes to infrastructure, one of the results of that is poor water services and high leakage rates. We need to learn the lessons that come with that. One of the lessons is to provide utilities like Uisce Éireann with a multi-annual funding settlement. The funding uncertainty that comes from the failure to provide it and other utilities with the certainty that comes with multi-annual funding is a huge threat to our ability to deliver housing at scale.

It is fashionable and it might sound good to come in here and have a right go at Irish Water. It is far from perfect. I have had huge issues with it. It is doing its best to operate within the constraints that this Government and previous Governments have placed on it. It is supposed to be a single national utility. It needs to be properly considered as such as opposed to the old system of the local authorities and the local authorities coming together. It needs €100 billion of funding up to 2050. That is the true scale of underinvestment that we have had in water services in this country. In fairness to the Government, it has allocated €12 billion over the next four years. It is only after a very successful public lobbying and I would argue shaming campaign in respect of Uisce Éireann.

We need to recalibrate how we consider, think about and deliver water infrastructure. We need to stop thinking of Uisce Éireann just as this utility to help us to fulfil our environmental compliance obligations. We need to start to consider it, fund it and think about it as a vital utility to allow us to reach our housing targets. What I mean by this is to commit it the funding to deliver on the housing targets beyond 2029 on an ongoing multi-annual basis.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I welcome these statements. I have said it on the floor of the Dáil before that the water in my hometown of Mallow is destroying every single washing machine, kettle and shower head in every single house in Mallow because it is hard water. What I always get back from the Government is that it is not bad for you.

That is fine but it is bad for the pocket and that is a fact. I am no expert on this, and I ask the Minister to go away and find out from Irish Water whether it is possible to put in a water softener at source to prevent hard water destroying these utensils in homes. Do not tell people to put a water softener into their houses because it costs about €3,000. The average working family of a mother, father and a couple of kids cannot afford this €3,000 for a water softener but every single year or two they have to buy a new showerhead, a new kettle and a new washing machine. It is simply not good enough.

The lack of sustainable good water on the north side of Cork city is an absolute shambles. At the public accounts committee recently I was informed that complaints have gone down. Is it any wonder complaints have gone down? Complaints have gone down because people are sick and tired of ringing and complaining. This is why complaints have gone down. Do not take it as any sort of evidence that good work is being done because it is not. People are sick of ringing and giving out about it. People wake up in the morning and they do not know whether they will have brown water coming out of the tap or the shower. Some people have had to bathe their children in brown water. It is simply not good enough.

I want to focus on council staff who are now employed by Irish Water. This is something that has come up on the doorsteps on a number of occasions with employees themselves and with their family members. I do not understand it. They have the local knowledge. In some instances, it has been referred to me that Irish Water has sent out engineers who then ring local staff who have worked with the local authority to try to get the work done. There are a number of issues and I ask the Minister to go away and work on them.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The planning permission for the project in Clonshaugh has gone through and the judicial review has been withdrawn. We need to ensure there is no impediment to the development of this vital project for the north side of Dublin, particularly for the 6,000 houses in my constituency of Dublin Central that rely on the development of this wastewater project.

The issue I want to raise today is with regard to lead in our pipes. It is a significant issue in Dublin and in other parts of the country. The reality is that we have a water directive from 2020, and arguably the Government is taking a very pedestrian pace with regard to its transposition. It will be 2036 when we will see the legal limit go from ten units per litre to five units per litre. I believe the Government needs to show leadership and move much more speedily on this.

Another key issue is that in 2023 the Environmental Protection Agency flagged very serious issues with regard to the pace at which Irish Water is replacing individual lead pipe connections across Dublin. At that stage only 35% of connections were done. We need to see a much greater increase in this. This comes back to funding. Issues in my community in Phibsborough and in other communities have been detected because of academics testing in our communities and finding extraordinarily high levels of lead. We are not quite clear on why this is happening and whether it is the public system or the connections in people's households. We have asked Irish Water to undertake comprehensive testing of the area and it has come back to say it will do spot checks in particular areas, which is welcome, but it is not comprehensive. We need to give certainty because of the impact of lead on people. We know it causes huge damage in particular to infants, young people and older people. People need to be given this information. My clear call to the Minister is to make sure Uisce Éireann is properly resourced and financed to get on with the job of replacing lead connections in Dublin and give an assurance to everybody out there that they have little or no lead in their systems.

George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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The issue of unfinished estates is something the Minister is familiar with. It is taking an inordinate amount of time for estates to be taken in charge, particularly some of the older ones where I appreciate there are some difficulties. Mostly the hold-up is down to Uisce Éireann. County councils, unusually, have come to the table on this and have said they are anxious to take estates in charge, yet Irish Water seems very reluctant to allow this to happen. It wants to engage with developers and companies but some of the developers have, sadly, passed away. Some of the companies involved in the development of these estates are gone. Who are we waiting for? Who are we going to be able to call? We cannot call the developers who have passed away or the companies that have gone. Still Uisce Éireann will not agree to allow or facilitate the taking in charge of these estates.

With regard to new connections, I have spoken to a number of developers who, when they look to develop new homes, and I know this is a key tenet of the Minister's campaign on the housing issue, often hit brick walls when it comes to accessing the network or infrastructure. I spoke to one developer who had to invest €1.4 million to upgrade Uisce Éireann facilities or else wait three years before he could build 180 houses. Another developer had to invest €1.3 million as Uisce Éireann would not intervene, and there were 500 houses involved. Luckily these developers went ahead and invested the money but, unfortunately, it was the new home owners who had to foot the bill. This is happening across the country in county after county. All the big Irish civil engineering companies have reported that they are in the UK operating and building the water infrastructure there because there is no, for want of a better word, pipeline of work here for them to depend on. I ask the Minister to look at these two issues of unfinished estates and new connections.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I welcome the chance to speak to the Minister on this issue. I want to raise a number of local issues in my area of south Kildare. In recent years there has been very welcome development in the Allenwood and Kilmeague area, after long representations by many public representatives. We are having continuous problems during this work with outages and a lot of businesses and homes are suffering. Will the Minister look at this and give an update to the locals in the area?

Not for the first time, I want to raise the issue of the Curragh Camp. In recent days the water has been out there. The Minister is familiar, I am sure, with the fact there are a number of schools and the Army facilities on the Curragh Camp. A school has had to close because of the lack of water facilities. I ask the Minister to look at what is going on in the Curragh Camp at present and to assist through Irish Water in every way that we can.

I also want to raise Ballymany Manor in Newbridge, which is a new estate on the edge of the town. Unfortunately, this particular estate has been subject to water problems every evening since it was built. Young children who come home from school and people who come home from work are unable to take showers because the water has been reduced to a dribble. I have engaged with Irish Water on this on a number of occasions and it tells me that work is under way or is promised. Unfortunately, this work has not yet happened. I ask the Minister to look at the particular areas I have highlighted this evening.

I want to speak about developer infrastructure. In his speech the Minister said Uisce Éireann, as the national water authority, is now in a position to engage with developers on this initiative. I have been contacted by some developers who want to build houses that are badly needed in a housing emergency. Do they contact Uisce Éireann, the Department or the local authority? How quickly will this be up and running? Perhaps the Minister will give us some information on this.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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I made a number of points in last week's debate, which I will not repeat except for one. Once again I want to raise the issue of the connection of newly built homes in Knocksedan in Swords. These are not homes that are planned, in the pipeline or which might come. These are homes that have been built. I first spoke to Irish Water about this issue on 21 March 2025. I received a full answer to that question only on 30 October 2025, six months later. However, it was not satisfactory in terms of rectifying the problem. The people who have scrimped and saved and worked hard to purchase these homes have been told time and again that the date for this to be resolved keeps getting pushed back. The most recent date they have been given is March 2026. During all this time they have not been allowed in to view the property they have bought. It is absolutely outrageous. Can we have clarity? Have contracts been signed on this? When will the connections be made? Will these people, who have done so much to buy these homes, be able to move in as soon as possible? It is pathetic that this carry-on has been happening for so long.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I will start with accountability in Irish Water. As the Minister knows, Members of the House have the right to ask parliamentary questions to various Ministers, including to him.

If I want to help someone with a driving test, I can write a parliamentary question to the Minister for Transport, and he will refer it to the RSA. With regard to health, if I am trying to help someone on a waiting list for cataracts, I can write a parliamentary question for the Minister for Health, and she will refer it to the HSE. When I write a parliamentary question to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage asking about Irish Water and when it is going to invest in a certain plant or when it is going to do certain works, I get an answer back from the Ceann Comhairle's office saying that under Standing Order 44, this is not a matter for the Minister to respond to and that it is a matter for Uisce Éireann and that I can email Uisce Éireann at oireachtasmembers@water.ie.

I am not going to get into that representative's email address today because I do not have the time and, to be honest, my blood pressure cannot deal with trying to explain just how frustrating that is. However, as a Member of this House I am entitled to answers, and I cannot get them. That is not the Minister's fault. It is not because he is not refusing to answer and the Ceann Comhairle is not preventing him from answering it, but it is the way Irish Water was established. It will not answer parliamentary questions. Those who established Irish Water in that Government and those who held those positions should answer why that is the case and why I cannot hold them to account.

If I want to ask about water outages in Rathcabbin or previously if I wanted to ask about Gortnahoe, Glengoole or Ballysloe, I will be told Irish Water will not answer a parliamentary question or the Minister cannot answer one through Irish Water. If I want to ask about the wastewater treatment plants in Cloughjordan or Ballycommon, Irish Water cannot answer a parliamentary question on it. If I want to ask how much money Irish Water has spent trucking sewage out of Ballycommon and into another plant because the plant there does not work, I cannot get that answer either. As a Member of Dáil Éireann sent here by the people of Tipperary North and north-west Kilkenny that is absolutely ridiculous. When asking for updates on the very welcome €50 million being spent in Nenagh at the moment on a wastewater treatment plant, I cannot get a parliamentary question response. I avoid writing to Irish Water as often as I can and try to find another avenue because of the absolute shambolic answers we get back from the Oireachtas Members email address time and time again.

By 2030, this Government is going to have spent €12.2 billion on water and wastewater infrastructure in this country. That is phenomenal, historic and unprecedented, and it is fantastic, but if I want to submit a parliamentary question asking for accountability, I cannot get an answer to it. I want accountability in this House. The people who put me here want accountability in this House and I should be able to expect and, indeed, demand parliamentary question responses from Irish Water. That Standing Order needs to change for the functioning of democracy in this country.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I will follow on from Deputy O'Meara, with whom I entirely agree on the accountability of Uisce Éireann. Last July I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister around the question of accountability of Uisce Éireann to these Houses. While his office responded that he does not have a say in the operational matters, it was indicated that Uisce Éireann could be called before some of the parliamentary committees. That is not good enough. In terms of the response we get as elected TDs, we should be treated with more courtesy. Not so long ago I had a situation in Gorey where I had facilitated meetings with two development groups. One was from the Ferns-Camolin area, which the Minister knows very well, and the other from Aughrim, County Wicklow. In that case, officials from Uisce Éireann agreed to meet with me as an elected representative but were not happy to meet with the groups I had brought to meet with them. We must have a situation whereby a State utility is accountable to elected Members.

I commend the Minister on all the work he is doing, particularly in terms of the announcements regarding housing activation and so on this week. The biggest domestic challenge is the construction of housing. Water and wastewater infrastructure is critical to that but I am not convinced that Uisce Éireann sees that as part of its core mission. The chief executive and senior personnel in Uisce Éireann should be waking up every morning and asking the question: "What are we doing to try to help in the construction of homes in Ireland?" The Minister and I both know from listening to developers that Uisce Éireann is one of the biggest barriers to home construction at the moment. We need to be more demanding of Uisce Éireann in terms of its responsibilities to us as democratically elected Members. I ask the Minister to look again at the Uisce Éireann legislation in terms of ensuring that Uisce Éireann becomes more accountable.

Regarding the two specific schemes and the groups I brought in, these communities have been waiting for a long time for water and wastewater facilities. Aughrim is a beautiful village that cannot grow. We have been told if we allow a private developer to build its own treatment plant in the community, it will ultimately be taken over by Uisce Éireann provided it is up to spec. I welcome the Minister's reforms in that regard. It is absolutely critical if those planning applications go in, that the developers are supported both by Uisce Éireann and Wicklow County Council to ensure we can see homes built in a village like Aughrim.

Similarly, the Minister will be very familiar with Camolin and Ferns and the requirements there. Those communities cannot expand because of the lack of water and wastewater capacity. One of the challenges in Camolin we know is that we have problems around pollution of the River Bann running right through Camolin village. Complaints have been made to the EPA about the need to address the problem of pollution of that river. We need to see a wastewater treatment plant put in place for Ferns and Camolin. Those communities have been waiting over 20 years. While it is great for some of the larger urban centres where water and wastewater treatment plants are built, it is also critical, even if it is only two or three projects every year, that in a number of villages, including those my colleague and friend Deputy O'Meara mentioned and the one's the Minister will be familiar with in counties Wexford and Wicklow, a scheme is put in place. The Minister knows, if those villages with no capacity currently have the capacity to build 20 to 30 homes every year, not alone will it help to address the housing crisis, it will also help to make those villages sustainable in terms of shops, schools, post offices and other facilities.

I commend what the Minister is doing on housing, but it is not just about getting the developers building the houses. Housing depends essentially on electricity and crucially on water and wastewater connections. The Minister needs to be asking the chief executive and the board of Uisce Éireann whether their first question every morning is: "How are we helping people to build homes?" I do not believe it is. If we need to amend the legislation to ensure Uisce Éireann sees itself as part of that ecosystem and that we can expect more accountability as elected Members, we need to do it as soon as possible.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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The announcement earlier this week by the Minister that the Bunlicky wastewater treatment plant is to be upgraded with construction commencing in 2028 is very welcome news. The population of Limerick and its surrounds is increasing at a very fast rate and this upgrade should help, should the Government deliver on its planned housing targets. While based on the performance in previous years, I doubt it can deliver the projected housing targets, preparatory work like this is to be welcomed. We remain in a very difficult situation when it comes to water infrastructure across Ireland.

In July last year, the Committee on Budgetary Oversight stated the water infrastructure deficit is limiting the supply of housing and other infrastructure. Significant issues remain from the so-called Celtic tiger period, with significant leakage remaining in our infrastructure and I fear there is not sufficient funding to local authorities and Uisce Éireann to address this.

When there are deficits in water infrastructure often houses cannot be developed, homes cannot be built, businesses cannot expand, and environmental protections are often compromised. Uisce Éireann is trying to address the issues of leakage through the national leakage reduction plan. It has completed works in areas of Limerick to address some of the leakage and, again, this is to be welcomed. It is high time, however, that these leaks and wastage be addressed properly.

I regret that its level of communication both with elected Members and the general public can be absolutely appalling. The public are resilient; they can handle interruptions to the supply once they are kept informed of developments, but this simply does not happen with Uisce Éireann. In December 2025, areas of Limerick were left without access to water for six days. The Irish Water text alert system notified people of the outage, but what is frustrating is that the system and the email correspondence offered no information whatsoever to customers as to when the outage would finish.

Families and businesses rely on accurate information so they can plan for necessary interruptions to the water supply. In some instances, the failure of communication is even more profound, in particular when it comes to boil notices. In May last year, boil notices were issued in areas of Limerick city, including Moyross, Corbally and the Mill Road. However, if people visited the Uisce Éireann website at the time and entered their eircode from another part of the city, they were told a boil notice was in operation across the whole city, but there was not. The maps, press notices and website offered contrary information to each other. This led to utter confusion across Limerick for most of the day and stress and concern for thousands of residents who thought they had to boil their water when they did not. I received reports of supermarkets running out of bottled water. The excuses offered at the time, which included a computer glitch, are simply not acceptable. As an elected Member for Limerick, if I contact Irish Water about an issue, there is a failure to adequately respond. That needs to be addressed. This is simply not good enough.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I really welcome the opportunity to speak about Uisce Éireann because we are at a serious crisis point in terms of infrastructure in this country. For years, underinvestment by successive Fianna Fáil- and Fine Gael-led Governments has put us in the situation in which we now find ourselves.

In my constituency of Kildare North, water supply and infrastructure are under severe pressure. I have heard from constituents about the low water pressure in parts of Hazelhatch and Celbridge without any warning. Those in the upper floors of apartments had no water at all for years. Since the improvements were made, the upper floors of apartments do not have the proper water pressure. They face particular difficulties at the weekend due to the high demand. This is a result of the lack of investment from the Government and Uisce Éireann in our water structure. We have ageing pipes that cannot stand the continuous demand for water in large parts of the constituency. We have ended up in this situation while the Government has ignored our repeated calls to invest in this rotting infrastructure and to provide quality water services to those who need it. However, that has not been the case in so many other parts of my constituency. We have had repeated outages in Leixlip and Maynooth as well, on the Celbridge Road, where the pipe constantly bursts, which is hampering the ability of residents to go about their daily lives. It interferes with cooking, cleaning and other daily essentials. This has repeatedly left people frustrated with the lack of action from the Government. People are really frustrated about this. The quality of life around the country is decreasing, between low water pressure, frequent blackouts and unreliable transport.

What will happen to our water infrastructure when the population of Kildare North explodes in the coming years, as it is expected to do? The Government has failed massively to properly plan in areas of north Kildare. Massive property developments are going up with no supporting infrastructure. The pipes are already breaking at the seams according to the reports of repeated leaks, as the population expands. How will our creaking water infrastructure survive the population boom in Kildare North? We need immediate, planned multi-annual investment in our water supply and water infrastructure to ensure that not only will homes be built, but they will be accompanied by the necessary infrastructure.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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The Minister knows water is a human right. While it is good that the Government is committed to support Uisce Éireann as a public utility, there are still significant issues in relation to water and wastewater across this country. There are also significant issues in Dublin where there are still major issues with leakages from pipes. A significant amount of clean, treated water is escaping from pipes and being lost. That is a loss of a natural resource and the investment that has gone into treating it. What is the Minister going to do to improve the significant leakage from old pipes in Dublin, which are losing a huge amount of our water? That is linked directly to what we are inevitably going to see again this summer in terms of water shortages. Dublin's water infrastructure is in a serious crisis, but that is also the case with its wastewater infrastructure. This connects directly to the need to develop housing, which we know is significant across Dublin city. We need to expand and increase the number of homes that are going to be built, but that is all going to put significant pressure on the existing water and wastewater infrastructure. I do not believe that Uisce Éireann, as it currently operates, is set up to meet that capacity and deliver the water and wastewater infrastructure to the extent to, which it is required and to bring it up to the standards that are needed so as to avoid us facing situations of water shortages and also the huge loss of water that is happening.

We still face a problem with the Ringsend treatment plant where wastewater is being discharged into Dublin Bay at various points when there is a severe overload due to excessive rainwater. That happens, as we are seeing right now. Many people in my constituency use Dublin Bay. They swim in various parts of it, on the north side of it or on the south side. They use Dollymount Strand. For many people, Dublin Bay is one of the key spaces in which they can engage in leisure time and connect with nature. It is unacceptable that at many points throughout the year Dublin Bay is not usable because of poor water quality. While Uisce Éireann says that the Government has given it extra funding, it is not sufficient from the point of view of my constituents and the public to address the issues that are there.

I also want to address an issue I previously raised when I spoke on this matter. While I welcome the commitment to Uisce Éireann as a public utility, we cannot get away from the reality, which is that for many decades since the 1970s, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been following the policies of privatisation and outsourcing of various public services. Within the set-up of Uisce Éireann, there was an intention to privatise it. That is why there is still a need to hold a referendum to enshrine water as a human right and as a public good. We need that guarantee. One of the things that has given me significant concern is the Minister's proposal to allow private developers to provide wastewater infrastructure. I understand that he is saying it is in order to accelerate the delivery of housing infrastructure, but I have a concern about it. What this shows is that despite the claims that Uisce Éireann is sufficiently funded, it is clearly not. If the Minister has to rely on private developers to provide wastewater infrastructure, clearly Uisce Éireann does not have that capacity. What he needs to do is to accept that Uisce Éireann does not have the capacity to develop the water and wastewater infrastructure that is needed to develop the homes, and he is relying on private developers to fill the gap. Why is that problematic? It is problematic because we have seen the issues with private development when they cut corners. They are doing it for profit. They are not doing it as a charity. I am concerned that we are going to be dealing with substandard water and wastewater infrastructure put in by private developers because of the Government's failure to ensure that Uisce Éireann is delivering and has the capacity and funding to deliver what is needed.

I want to ask the Minister about the infrastructure fund that was announced today, which includes a reference to water. He said it is a €1 billion fund. Is the fund going to be used, for example, to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure? Is this additional funding on top of what was announced already or is it an announcement of the funding that was set out in the housing plan?

Will the Minister clarify that? Is it funding that was already allocated within the housing budget and essentially an announcement of something that existed? Will the Minister clarify how much funding this scheme is going to give out each year? Will he clarify how much of it he expects to be given to private developers and the private market, which he mentioned in his press release today? Does he have any concern about additional public funding being given to private developers? We could actually see private developers being given public money to develop wastewater and water infrastructure for housing projects when Irish Water, the public utility, should be getting that funding to do it. Does the Minister see why, as a result, we might be concerned that Government still holds to the idea that the market should ultimately deliver these things rather than our public services? Of course, it is part of the playbook of neoliberalism to run down public services so they can then be privatised.

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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We could spend all day every day discussing the dysfunction of Uisce Éireann and the many forms it takes. In the brief time I have, I will share a vignette of that dysfunction and its impact on people with reference to Knockane, Castlemartyr, County Cork. It is a townland in east Cork in my own constituency where there was an outage over Christmas that affected just eight households. This situation is replicated throughout the country. A small number of families was involved but the impact at that time of year was prolonged and severe. This outage occurred on 19 December and lasted until 28 December. The residents had no running water at all during that time. I am informed the problem relates to an antiquated pipe that needs replacement. Outages were occurring frequently in this townland as far back as September.

One family was in a very vulnerable situation. They have a young child with a medical condition who was recently discharged from hospital. They were left stranded throughout that time. Over those ten days or so, my office was calling on Uisce Éireann to supply water tankers and to give clear updates on the state of repairs. I am sure other local public representatives were also advocating for the families affected. Despite that level of representation, the family I mentioned had to take to the airwaves six days into the outage, on Christmas Eve, to highlight their situation.

The family were at pains to emphasise that the ground workers with Uisce Éireann were working very hard to resolve the issue and were compassionate and very receptive to them. However, no water tanker was supplied at any stage during that ten-day period. This was despite residents receiving many reference numbers for requests they made to Uisce Éireann's Kafkaesque online system for tankers. There were two days on which bottled water was not supplied to homes. Some of the considerable distress this caused could easily have been addressed even if the repairs were always going to take as long as they did.

Knockane, Castlemartyr is one of many examples from around the country where Uisce Éireann's cold faceless bureaucracy is failing people at the most basic level. Its problems are not the fault of its ground workers. There is a dramatic gap in accountability, transparency, accessibility and basic functioning in Uisce Éireann that the Government needs to address urgently.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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Fintan O'Toole wrote a piece in the Irish Times this week about why Ireland is, in his opinion, governed so badly. One of the points he raised was that elected representatives of all parties and none spend so much time making representations to various services and bodies on behalf of constituents when our priority should be policy-making and developing legislation, whether nationally, regionally or locally. Water is one of the services public representatives make the most representations and raise the most cases about throughout the country. I have listened to much of this evening's debate with great interest arising from my time as a councillor and my time here in Leinster House. We have heard that, in every county, every constituency, every town, every village and every parish, there are significant problems with our water infrastructure. The Minister of State captured it quite succinctly in his opening statement. I support the investment this Government intends to make and the investment the previous Government made. It is certainly making a difference.

The population of County Kildare has increased from 120,000 to over 250,000 in 30 years. It has more than doubled in a very short span. Infrastructure development has not nearly kept pace. I could list off what that means for the people of Kildare. There are tankers going into Allenwood every day to empty sewage tanks because the system simply cannot keep up with demand. Schools throughout the constituency are trying to get new systems set up but they cannot get the services. There are consistent outages in Leixlip. The Dunboyne Road in Maynooth has been left in ruins by Irish Water contractors. There are a catalogue of issues.

In stark contrast, information Uisce Éireann provided to the Committee of Public Accounts last week shows that nearly 50 of the highest earners in that body, whose salaries are between €122,000 and €225,000, are getting an average bonus of nearly €22,000 a year. Is this Government willing to stand over that approach? We are seeing comprehensive failures from a strategic perspective. Let me be very clear about the people on the ground in this utility. God knows they have been tested in Kildare. When they are called upon, they do incredible work. The problem is that, when they fix a hole, another hole arises down the road. The overall strategic development of our utility and water infrastructure is not fit for purpose in a county that continues to grow unsustainably. During that meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts last week, I asked the Comptroller and Auditor General whether there was any comparable utility in which bonuses like this are paid. In 2024, 93.5% of the utility's staff got their full bonus. This led me to think about what targets are being set for senior management within the utility. Is there governmental oversight of those? This does not happen in the ESB, CRU, EirGrid or anywhere else. Such lucrative bonuses are not paid while consistent systemic failures continue. That is my question for the Minister of State. He will not have time to come back to me on it but perhaps we can discuss it again. This financial model really needs re-evaluation. I implore the Government to take this matter quite seriously.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I will make a point about services in this country and the general bureaucracy that holds up every single development that is undertaken. I should not say "every single development" but it is an issue for some major developments. We do not seem to be capable of empowering local authorities or Government agencies to deliver efficiently and well. If that was done, we would not have the same number of TDs, councillors and Senators making representations. When a service does not function, the general public has nowhere to turn other than to us. I attended a public meeting in Inistioge about the development of the village and a neighbouring area called The Rower. At one stage, this area was second on the list to have facilities provided by the council or Irish Water. Now, it is fifth on the list and no one can explain why. We cannot have a system that randomly picks one place over another. Huge investment must be made through Irish Water and directed towards villages and towns that want to develop, that have areas to develop and where people want to live. I will say another thing about Irish Water.

The Greenfields housing estate in Kilkenny is serviced by an antiquated system that is just completely broken down. Irish Water will not provide the turn-off valves that are necessary to control the water should there be a burst pipe. Very recently, there was a burst pipe. A house gets flooded and who do the people turn to? Their local public representative or TD. What we get from Irish Water is just static. There is no sense of urgency about delivering the corrective measures that are necessary to make sure those households do not flood any more. There is not an understanding from Irish Water about local issues, either. In Inistioge, they were not aware of the fact that very close to the outflow pipe from a treatment system was an area where people got into the water and swam. They did not see it. We have lost a lot of local knowledge as we move towards the bigger entity of Irish Water. That could be said about the HSE as well. We need to debate it much more here in the Chamber so we get to the point where we are creating the policy and driving it to deliver for the people we represent. Irish Water needs to do much more in the small villages throughout County Kilkenny and indeed Carlow to make it effective in terms of allowing local populations to grow and people to live and work in their own communities.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins. for the excellent work he has been doing, in a very practical, down to earth and sensible way, in trying to help the housing situation. By his initiatives and his control of the situation, along with the senior Minister, Deputy Browne, whom I also thank publicly, he is certainly introducing changes that will be felt up and down the length and breadth of this country. They will help our planning authorities by giving clear direction with regard to subdivision, exemptions, modular homes, and the subdivision of properties into houses and apartments. That is all to be welcomed. I hope that initiative of the Minister of State's will be a help in this plague we all have as public representatives in every village and town of derelict, defunct buildings that are lying there for years and years. People were afraid of the planning system. Developers and investors were afraid of it. The Minister of State's initiative will give surety to the planners and people who might buy a property, and to the homeowners themselves. I want to welcome that.

With regard to water and wastewater, I want to thank Irish Water for the work and help they are trying to do in this situation. Infrastructure is the biggest barrier to housing. For example, in places like Kenmare in County Kerry, the lack of mains water is a big hindrance at the moment to development. The recent developer-led infrastructure, DPI, initiative, whereby a developer can come along and provide services that will then be taken over by Irish Water, is to be welcomed. It is an initiative of this Government, of the Minister of State and of the senior Minister and I thank them for that. We have situations in places like Beaufort and I welcome that we have a plan in place for that, but we could be looking at another seven years of a wait. That is too long for the people of Beaufort. There are areas that cannot be developed and cannot grow due to a lack of wastewater facilities, such as Currow, Scartaglin, Caherdaniel and Castlegregory. These are places that are held up at present.

Another thing I want to highlight is where Irish Water is holding up the taking in charge of housing estates. We could have an estate that was developed in the early 2000s, for instance. The standards and regulations that existed at that time, that was the standard. Those housing estates have not been taken over since. Now, if those estates are to be taken over, the answer is that there is massive investment needed to bring them up to the standards of today, but who is going to pay for that? The developer might be gone. We cannot ask the property owners there to pay for it. The bonds are gone back. These people are really held up. I am sorry for going on. I thank the Minister of State for the work he is doing and urge him to keep at it.

Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am going to raise the matter of constructed wetlands again. I have been hammering this issue for quite some time now as a member of Kerry County Council and since I have been elected to Dáil Éireann. We have numerous estates all over Kerry that have huge problems with wastewater treatment. We have over 40 villages in Kerry that are unsewered. We have many more that are at capacity, including my own one in Glenbeigh. The south Kerry greenway received €9.2 million the other day to progress the works there. We opened the first completed section on 19 December last, bringing crowds from everywhere. I have had two separate inquiries in regards to consortiums that want to build hotels in the area. We cannot progress them because there is no sewerage scheme, or the sewerage scheme is at capacity. Many villages, such as Castlegregory, Fenit, Beaufort as the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, mentioned, Cromane, Portmagee, Ballyduff, Duagh and Scartaglin, are affected. I wish to mention in regard to Beaufort that the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, is correct. Irish Water told me last year that it will take another seven years. Some €6 million was announced over two years ago for that scheme, which was increased to €7 million recently. We are talking about ten years to get a scheme completed from start to finish. That is too long. Constructed wetlands are the way forward, especially for the smaller populated areas including all the villages I have mentioned. If there is a bigger population, why not put in two constructed wetlands, or three, indeed? They are much cheaper and faster and they are environmentally friendly.

On drinking water and water quality, there is still a large amount of asbestos pipes bringing water to people's homes in Kerry. It is about time they were replaced. Deputy O'Meara referred earlier to parliamentary questions for Uisce Éireann. We should be getting replies. We should be entitled to ask and get an answer on any specific sewerage scheme. I also want to ask about Fenit.

Finally, regarding constructed wetlands, is it a matter for Kerry County Council to apply for them or do we have to wait for Uisce Éireann to announce a scheme? Is there a process there? When will we know exactly? I know money is there now going forward and that is very welcome but we need action. We need to start building these schemes to address the housing crisis.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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If I were from Kerry and, between the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and Deputy Cahill, I had not had my village or townland mentioned, I wonder how I would feel. I understand and agree with many of the issues they have raised.

The issue I want to raise is along the same lines, as it relates primarily to wastewater treatment. In Dublin we have a Victorian wastewater system. It is not fit for purpose any more. The extent of development of building in Dublin, while welcome from the point of view of providing housing that is much needed, means there is absolutely unbearable pressure on that system now. One of the great and easily solved problems is that when it rains heavily, all the run-off from the roads that flows into the gullies at the sides of roads goes into the sewerage system, into the same pipes where toilets are emptied and domestic sewage is emptied. In the case of my own area, it goes down to the West Pier pumping station at Dún Laoghaire and is pumped in an under-seabed pipe to Poolbeg for treatment, before the treatment water is discharged into the sea. That is all very well but because the system is over capacity, the volume of water that is now arriving at the West Pier pumping station is vastly in excess of the capacity of the pipe to pump it into Poolbeg, and vastly in excess of the capacity of Poolbeg to treat the water. What happens on a day like today when it has been lashing rain all day and we have had a lot of water accumulating on the roads and going into those gullies and into the sewerage system?

An excess of water arrives at the West Pier pumping station. In fairness, before Irish Water was there, what is called an attenuation tank was built. It is an overflow tank of 70,000 cu. m that is there to take that water and hold it until after the rain stops and there is capacity within the pipe once again to pump it to Poolbeg. However, when there is a lot of heavy rain, as there is today, that tank gets full. If you simply hold that water, the tank gets full, the pumping station is beyond capacity and the water backs up. It then comes up through toilets and drains all the way through the areas of south Dublin that are closest to the sea at the bottom of the hills. That is not acceptable. What is done instead is it is dumped into the sea. All of this water that has accumulated at the West Pier pumping station gets put directly into Dublin Bay contributing to E. coli, poor water quality and places where it is unsafe to swim, or even for animals to run around. It is totally unacceptable.

Nobody can tell me in this House how many times that happens per year. We know it will happen several times this week, but nobody could tell me in 2024 or 2025 how many times it happens. The people who live in the area will not know about it until a few days afterwards when the council has tested the water and puts up a no bathing notice. That is not on either. What can we do about it when nobody has any plan to solve it? There is a raft of possible measures, however. The simplest and perhaps the quickest one is to build a second attenuation tank at the West Pier. That would be another 70,000 cu. m that could accommodate the overflow from the overflow, but we have to deal with the underlying problem as well, solve it in quick order and not wait for it to get worse.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will start by speaking about the basics. When I say "basics", I am talking about water pressure. For the people I represent in Gurteen, Cloonsheecahill and east Galway, there are many places where there is low water pressure. During the summer, it has a detrimental impact on their quality of life and ability to live. In the capital plan developed by Uisce Éireann, there are many references to pumping stations, particularly a pumping station on the mid-Galway water scheme. Will the Minister of State's office undertake to follow up on that? A pumping station should not be something that takes many years. It should be rapid infrastructure that gets delivered to the people who need it because they have to live their lives without that water pressure.

Many estates in east Galway are left in limbo, as they are right across the country. They cannot be taken in charge by the local authority and, simultaneously, they do not have the funds to upgrade infrastructure. What needs to happen first and foremost is that the Department needs to allow local authorities draw down funding whereby footpaths, lights and green areas in unserviced estates within villages can be taken in charge. This would lower the cost burden on homes currently servicing the wastewater and would allow us to plan for the future.

Focusing on Uisce Éireann, I will make a critical point. I have seen the best of Uisce Éireann. I have seen it at Athenry, where €13 million was spent delivering a fantastic upgrade to our sewerage network that will allow us to go from a 5,000-person town to a 9,000-person town. I am glad to report that before Christmas over 180 homes commenced in Athenry. We have 300 homes being built right now, which is really exciting for a town that has so much going for it. I have also seen the worst of Uisce Éireann. When I send a representation, I get a reference number and that is where the representation dies. Nothing comes back to me. It is absolutely vital that if we as public representatives have a query, we can get back to people so they can trust in Uisce Éireann and we can hold it to account.

On that, will the Minister of State follow up on the Eyrecourt sewerage network upgrade that is required? Eyrecourt is a beautiful village in east Galway. It has a fine community hall, which it has invested in over the past two years. It has a shop, pub, primary school and library. It has so much going for it and such wide beautiful streets, but the reality is that it has a population crisis. Until that sewerage network is upgraded, we will not see any improvement for villages like Eyrecourt. Will the Minister of State's office undertake to follow that up?

Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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We have water, water everywhere, except flowing through the pipes and down through the taps in County Louth. I fear I will be very repetitive, like many of my colleagues. As Deputy Barry Ward said about previous speakers, I am about to take the Minister of State on a whistle-stop tour, this time of County Louth. While I recognise that Uisce Éireann committed €28 million to Drogheda last year, the problems are so long and so vast that three minutes is not enough.

I will point out the housing growth pressure issue. County Louth is ahead of its social housing targets and the number of private houses is growing at a rapid rate throughout the county. Yet, we see that the infrastructure is not keeping pace with the growth of houses in the county. Constituents' concerns in Dundalk have been treated with what I can only describe as disdain. Following a recent meeting with constituents, serious concerns were again raised about the pump station and the treatment plant. Mount Avenue, Dundalk and Blackrock residents have continuously been in contact with Uisce Éireann and my office to talk about the capacity, or rather the lack of capacity. They do not believe the new developments will be fit for purpose as a result of the service failures.

There are chronic failures and delays. Communities across the county continue to face repeated water outages, bursts and wastewater contamination incidents. Without any binding repair timelines, these failures are undermining the confidence in new housing delivery and public services. Worst of all, perhaps, are the prolonged discharges of raw and partially treated wastewater into rivers and coastal waters. The Glyde, the Fane and the Boyne are just a few of the rivers, not to mention the streams, that continue to pose a serious risk to public health and environmental quality.

I have raised this issue again and again. As Deputy Barry Ward said of his constituency, when it rains today, tomorrow and the following week, we will see dirty water overflowing and coming down through our rivers and out to the sea. Blackrock residents will not be able to bathe there. We continue to raise these issues but we are not being listened to.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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We have had years of underinvestment in water, electricity and public transport. One thing annoys people no end: listening to Government Ministers boast about how well the economy is doing when basic services that should be world-class are in a state of despair. On the broader issues of water and repairs, I will give Irish Water some credit. Its communications for upcoming planned works have improved but in terms of outages, problems with supplies and identifying where repairs need to happen, the delays are just unacceptable.

I could stand here like other Deputies and give the Minister of State loads of examples from my constituency, but I have decided to give just one. At Charlemont Lane in Clontarf, residents have had an issue with discolouration in their water since last October. Irish Water did the testing. There were high levels of metals in the water and some do-not-consume notices were issued. Irish Water, in fairness, did communicate with residents and myself, but the issue is that the actual problem still has not been fixed. Residents are understandably frustrated because they cannot get a timeline for when this work will be done. I understand it can take time to identify the source of a problem, but we are now three months on and this is just a small street.

Expanding and repairing water infrastructure and the sewerage system needs to be a top priority if we want to be able to address the challenges we are facing in this State, but I warn the Government against using these problems with our water infrastructure to try to reintroduce water charges by the back door with an excessive use charge. If it wants to deal with water being wasted, it should fix the pipes because a third of the water goes into the ground before it even hits the tap.

Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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Data from the EPA makes for frightening reading in terms of the quality of our water and the need for proper wastewater and water treatment plants. Avoca, in my local area, is one of 15 locations in Ireland where raw sewage is still being discharged every day, as identified by the EPA. Avoca must be prioritised as a village for upgrading. We were also promised progress with the long-awaited new state-of-the-art treatment plant in Arklow, yet it has now emerged that part of Arklow Harbour is not connected to this new plant. As a result, high levels of E. coli are still being detected in the river, so raw sewage continues to flow directly into the harbour and the River Avoca at Arklow.

I have contacted Uisce Éireann on three separate occasions seeking answers, but a satisfactory reply has yet to come. Connecting the remaining areas to the system must be a priority for Arklow. The Arklow community groups, watersports clubs and young people who use it deserve to have clean, safe water and not sewage.

Meanwhile, the beautiful village of Aughrim has long needed a new wastewater treatment plant to support future development in housing. I have been working with some local business owners for some time on the issue and thankfully there is progress. Uisce Éireann has confirmed to me that the Aughrim project is moving forward to a final design with a planning application expected within the year. Following this positive news, we had the recent purchase of the historic but derelict Lawless' Hotel, which once redeveloped will breathe new life back into the village as well as the wider community of south-west Wicklow.

In County Wexford, both Ferns and Camolin urgently need new wastewater treatment facilities. Existing plants are at capacity, blocking desperately needed housing developments and also affecting local school numbers in Camolin National School and putting additional pressure on the River Bann and local waterways. Camolin residents have spent more than 20 years waiting for proper wastewater treatment infrastructure. A new plant in Ferns with increased capacity to serve Camolin must be a priority for the Minister of State, so I hope he will take note of that.

We cannot ignore the growing pressure on our rivers and estuaries such as the River Cloghoge at upper Avonmore, and the Avoca river estuary, which continues to have excessive levels of copper, zinc and cadmium. These are all affecting the environment. Water is so crucial. It is the source of all life. Our communities depend on crystal clear, clean water, and not heavily fluoridated, heavily chlorinated, cloudy, terrible tasting liquid. Protecting our waterways is not optional; it is an absolute necessity.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. The provision of water supply and wastewater infrastructure is critical for sustainable development. With housing being our number one priority, we must have the infrastructure to go with it. In County Laois, despite the best efforts of Laois County Council, there are major shortcomings that will hold back developments. The county is undergoing significant population expansion, but there are huge gaps in infrastructure. That is according to Irish Water's own documents, which I have scrutinised. There are water pressure issues and there is going to be a shortage of water supply in towns and villages like Portarlington, Mountrath, Stradbally, Rathdowney, Ballylinan, Durrow, Killenard, Borris-in-Ossory, Ballinakill, Castletown, Ballybrittas, Doonane and The Swan. They are all listed as red according to Irish Water. In terms of wastewater, Graiguecullen, Borris-in-Ossory, Ballinakill and The Swan are in need of upgrade. All of those towns and villages need infrastructure to meet housing demand. We cannot just keep putting all the housing in Portlaoise. It is good that there is housing being built, but the town of Portlaoise is absolutely gridlocked with traffic most week days and even on weekends. The roads around the town are chock-a-block. GP surgeries are booked out. Schools are full and services are under huge pressure.

Let me say this about the issue of connection costs. The connection costs since Uisce Éireann took over have skyrocketed. They have gone way ahead of where they were with the local authorities. One couple in Laois was asked for in excess of €20,000 to provide a water connection quite a short distance. That is completely over the top. It is €6,200 for the first 10 m, and €800 per metre after that. Do the sums on that and you will not be long clocking up between €20,000, €30,000 or €40,000. That needs to be revised.

I argued with then Minister Phil Hogan on the floor of this House on the issue of Uisce Éireann and the creation of it 13 years or 14 years ago. We had many a head-to-head over it. I was not in favour of it, and I am still not in favour of the creation of it. We are stuck with it, but as has been said already, it took away local democracy. Local knowledge of the network and services was lost. Local engineers were lost. Local water keepers, who are essential, were lost. Local-based staff to deal with issues and a forum for local councillors, democratically elected and accountable to their electorate, was taken away. Uisce Éireann promised to provide local contacts. It promised to provide local engineers. If anybody can find them, they should show them to me because I have difficulty and I know other public representatives have difficulties finding them. That has been one of the huge gaps along with the local knowledge being lost. As the existing county council workers go, this is going to be a problem. The simple fact is that these services should have been left with local authorities. Where there is a need for cross-county infrastructure such as the Shannon pipeline, that can be done in the same way that the National Roads Authority builds roads across counties. The towns and villages of County Laois need infrastructure upgrades.

Uisce Éireann must put locally-based engineers and contacts in place for county councillors and TDs and reduce exorbitant costs for the connections.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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The Minister must bring forward the referendum to make sure it is put into the Constitution that water services cannot be privatised.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We urgently need to invest in our decrepit water infrastructure. It is totally inadequate to deal with the housing needs we have, with almost half of the water leaking out of the pipes because of Victorian and decrepit infrastructure. We need a water system that is responsive to the needs of people rather than one that refuses to get back to or talk to the public or its representatives.

Instead of doing what is necessary to address this, the Government is essentially engaged in a stealth privatisation of the water infrastructure to facilitate private, for-profit interests. Where is the evidence to back that up? The most recently available annual statement of Irish Water is for 2024. The single biggest item in operating costs in Irish water for that year, and I presume it is the same in more recent years, at a cost of €335 million, was hired and contracted services. It lists the companies, private builders and contractors within that.

We have had a stealth privatisation through the back door. That, of course, is why the Government does not want to have the referendum it promised after we successfully defeated the attempt to introduce domestic water charges through mass mobilisation and resistance. We won a commitment which has been reneged on, to have a referendum to ensure that the water infrastructure would stay in public ownership. The reason Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have not wanted to do that is because they are representing these builders and contractors who want to loot the Irish water infrastructure and are progressively privatising Irish Water through the back door.

What is the cost of all of this in terms of the quality of water services? We are told the Minister, Deputy James Browne’s officials told him at the beginning of this year that Irish Water is having to clean up the mess left by small, private contractors doing wastewater infrastructure projects around the country. They are making a bags of them in a huge number of cases because we do not have the local authority workers who are actually experts, who were working directly for and accountable to the public. They were redeployed and all of that expertise was lost. It has been handed over to private contractors profiteering from our water infrastructure. In many cases, as the Minister has been told, they cannot even do the job properly.

There is also the lack of funding, which is part of a deliberate strategy to run down our publicly-run water infrastructure. We have been told we need 60,000 houses a year but Irish Water has only been given the money for infrastructure for 30,000 houses a year. Then, of course, there is the creaming off of the top for the big salaries Deputy Healy talked about. That is something that would not be happening if it was with the local authorities for which we argued at the time Irish Water was set up.

Let us have the referendum that was promised and give the whole thing back to the local authorities, the people who have the expertise and will run it on a not-for-profit basis. Let us put in the investment necessary to deliver the housing and deal with the decrepit water and wastewater infrastructure.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. We have challenges and we are very aware of that. Building houses is a priority for this Government. The more houses we deliver the better. This is about the families, communities and people who need housing. In my area of Carlow, for example, through our local authority, we are looking at land that has been serviced. We need to look at serviced sites. That is really important.

I am going to raise a few issues I am very mindful of within my area. There was to be the extension of the wastewater treatment system from Grange to Tullow in County Carlow. The funding was allocated to this project two years ago but we have not yet even started the work. The issue is that Grange is a small area. It is a lovely area to live in. There is a primary school there with a large number of children. The council has to go out there regularly and empty the septic tanks. This is in 2026. My concern is that we are always announcing the funding is coming. As I said, this project was announced two years ago and we are still in the same position.

Another area that has been very much highlighted to me is the wastewater treatment in Ballinabrannagh, County Carlow. It was the same in Ballinabrannagh. Announcements were made but we still have not got the go-ahead for a certain amount of the work there. These are challenges we really need to look at. The programme for Government is about delivery and we cannot do that if we do not have the proper services there.

Another issue I was very much working on about two or three years ago was the case of Ardattin, County Carlow. I am raising the rural places because rural Ireland is so important. I know the Minister is working on this and that is why it is important we are looking at the wraparound services. The council was going to build houses in Ardattin because there was the need. It was going to look at local authority and private homes but it could not get the wastewater treatment and what it needed to build houses.

We have to make sure, through Irish Water, that when we give a commitment to delivering these services, we do it. We cannot just announce them, in particular in the case of Grange. The council is emptying septic tanks in Grange and it is unacceptable. There are a lot more projects in Carlow town. We really need to see how we can progress this and work together to get the services to make sure we have the delivery. Rural Ireland is really important. When announcements are made, I ask that commitments, dates and funding are given and that we work on them as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for all of his work.

Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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It feels a bit like Groundhog Day here today. In February of last year, in one of my first contributions to this House, I spoke about water outages in Kildare North. Indeed, I had a Topical Issue on the very same issue in June of last year. I hate to admit the greater Dublin area, in relation to Kildare, is growing. Maynooth, Leixlip, Celbridge, Kilcock and Clane are under severe pressure when it comes to electricity, connections of new estates and water infrastructure. In particular with the water infrastructure for those people living in those towns at the moment, it is extremely common to have outages. In my time as a county councillor - I was a county councillor for ten and a half years - it felt like it was my job to communicate with the public that there was a water outage. I would turn up on a site at two o’clock in the morning with water bursting out of a main road. I would get on to the fire service, the council and Uisce Éireann to try to get it resolved. That was not my role as a county councillor, and it is certainly not my role as a TD either. I am more than happy to step into the breach and help the public as much as possible but Uisce Éireann is failing in its duty to communicate with the public. We see this time and again.

For example, Carton Grove, an estate in Maynooth, lost water two days ago. I communicated with Uisce Éireann that we needed action on the ground and it told me there were teams on site. There were no teams on site. It took more than 24 hours to get the issue resolved. What we are dealing with here, with housing estates in particular, are young families and people with disabilities who need access to water. Having certainty of access to water is critical. If there are planned outages, people can live with that but what we are not seeing from Irish Water and what we need to see more of, is how it communicates with the public. I ask that Irish Water improves its public communications, particularly in isolated areas where there are outages, planned and unplanned.

I give credit to Irish Water for some of the schemes it is doing, such as the water supply project in the eastern midlands region, the Crodaun wastewater network upgrade in Celbridge, and the Maynooth water main replacement leakage reduction programme focused particularly on Old Greenfield and that side of the town.

What needs to happen here is real-time communication and also clear restoration timelines. People need to have an idea how much water to buy when they go to the supermarket because the supply is going to be gone for a particular amount of time. People need that certainty and I ask the Minister of State to bring it back to Irish Water that we actually communicate more effectively with the public.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Continuing to grow investment in water service infrastructure is absolutely essential to keep up with and adapt to change and to ensure Ireland meets its economic, social and environmental obligations. I am passionate about rural Ireland. I come from a small place called Skeoughvosteen in the parish of Graiguenamanagh on the Kilkenny-Carlow border. In particular, I want to welcome the new initiative that will allow private sector involvement in developing wastewater systems for smaller housing developments of up to 40 homes. This initiative is a crucial step towards addressing the infrastructure deficit in rural areas, particularly in Carlow-Kilkenny, where housing development has long been restricted by a lack of adequate wastewater facilities. By enabling developers to collaborate with Uisce Éireann on low-volume wastewater systems, the Government is providing a much needed solution that will accelerate housing delivery in areas that are currently stifled by infrastructure bottlenecks. It will help to alleviate some of the pressure on our smaller towns and villages where housing demand has far outpaced the availability of wastewater treatment options. However, this does not mean that Uisce Éireann is off the hook. For instance, in communities where water infrastructure has reached its limit, new housing development stalls, forcing locals to relocate. It creates ripple effects on our schools, shops and GAA clubs as families move and demographics shift.

There are so many issues in my constituency that need to be resolved. We have 14 wastewater treatment plants that need to be upgraded at the moment, in Kilmanagh, Glenmore, Freshford, Dungarvan, Ballyhale, Kells, Fiddown, Piltown, Paulstown, Graiguenamanagh, Bennettsbridge and Windgap, to name but a few. We have a situation in Bennettsbridge right now where they have been waiting years for an upgrade. They have been approved but the works will not be completed until 2030. It is not good enough and it is not acceptable. We have a situation in Inistioge, a village right beside me, where raw sewage is entering the River Nore and nothing has been done about it.

In Mullinavat in south Kilkenny the treatment plant is at full capacity. It urgently needs to be upgraded to allow housing and commercial interests to thrive in the area. Irish Water has been adequately funded over the next number of years with record investment but we need to see more and we need to see delivery now. Housing is the number one social issue and crisis facing the country. Enabling infrastructure such as water will enable us to get more houses built quicker and evenly across the country. We will get a lot more done. While it is so important that we get that increased and record-level investment, delivery is key. That is where the big challenge is. Those in Uisce Éireann need to make sure they are going to deliver these projects on time and with a sense of urgency, which has been lacking up to this particular point.

Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Everybody here knows that water is the most precious of our natural resources, and how the State manages it plays a crucial role in delivering on any number of policy plans for the future. Whether it be housing, education, or immigration, no policy can be fully formed without considering the water infrastructure that is available to support it. The Government has shown consistently that it is willing to act boldly to preserve and protect our water infrastructure and to boost it where possible.

Last November, I warmly welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that a developer-led approach would be adopted when it comes to progressing wastewater treatment plants, particularly in rural areas. As a rural TD, I say that is very welcome. Councillors on the ground in Carlow and Kilkenny have been calling for this for quite some time and I am heartened by the Government's readiness to act in lockstep with local representatives. Of course, even with this approach, challenges remain. A wastewater treatment plant for Castlecomer, which regularly faces severe water disruption is not due for completion until 2029. The community in Castlecomer who have turned their town into a thriving regional tourist hub cannot and indeed should not have to wait that long.

In Carlow town there is also a pressing need to expand. We know Carlow is a growing student hub that must be supported by the provision of adequate student accommodation and this relies on our wastewater infrastructure. Delays in the schedule to upgrade works for Mortarstown wastewater treatment plant only add to this frustration. We cannot allow the growth of our towns and villages to be undermined by cumbersome developments.

To grow rural Ireland we must not only identify the problems but also the solutions. It is my firm belief that the processes outlined in the accelerating infrastructure report and action plan will go an enormous distance in boosting our delivery of vital wastewater infrastructure. This belief is bolstered by the ceaseless work that has been completed on the ground across Carlow and Kilkenny over recent months. In November, vital water network upgrades were completed in Tullow town centre. These works replaced more than 2.1 km of old and damaged pipes which will reduce water loss, enhance pressure and ensure a more reliable supply for all schools and businesses in Tullow. Last summer, works costing almost €10 million were completed in Bagenalstown's wastewater treatment plant, bringing the population capacity of the plant from 4,500 to 9,800. Works such as these are being carried out on the ground, and it is important that we get balance. Obviously, we need more to be done but, on average, Uisce Éireann is at present fixing 2,000 leaks every month.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I noted yesterday a substantial announcement on wastewater investment for Limerick. I compliment Limerick, the local authorities there and the Minister in the Department for developing that work. Like Limerick, Galway is a city the national planning framework plans for growth over the coming decade or decade and a half, in terms of counterbalancing the development of the country between the east coast and the west coast. Galway needs a similar commitment on wastewater investment to what was given to Limerick yesterday.

The network in Galway city is in need of significant upgrades. In 2023, the EPA claimed that there were overflows of diluted effluent on 70 dates from a holding tank on the Galway network and that on most of these dates we had less than 10 mm of rain. That is an unlicensed discharge. The EPA said the duration and the quantities of the overflow are not known and they have the potential to pollute Galway Bay. That alone should be reason for us to say we need to intervene here quickly and make sure we do the work on the Galway network to prevent that.

The other reason is that the lack of appropriate wastewater treatment in Galway city is preventing residential development, particularly in the east of the city. In fairness and to its credit, Uisce Éireann did apply for planning permission to upgrade a pumping station in Merlin Park. However, there has been no commitment since the granting of permission for that to develop it. We need to see that commitment.

I should point out that there are two beaches in Galway city where the water sampling has not met the standards to be awarded the blue flag. It is impossible to say that this is a direct consequence of the issues with the network but one can gather this may have something to do with it. Those two reasons, the environmental impact and the inability to develop further in the east of the city, are reasons we should be urging Uisce Éireann, at the earliest opportunity, to proceed with the work on the pumping station at Merlin Park.

I want to briefly address water supply. My predecessor for Galway West, Éamon Ó Cuív, in an era when you could get answers to questions on water supply in this House was advised in 2022 that there were approximately 172,000 or 10% of households depending on private sources of water supply. These are rarely tested, they are not monitored and they could potentially be a cause of illness. They are also quite unreliable for the households involved.

It is ironic, to some degree, that the State has embarked on, and given a commitment, that we were going to roll out broadband to every home in the country but yet there are 172,000 households for which we have not provided a public or a group water supply. We should look at that. There were schemes in the past such as the CLÁR programme which funded and supported the funding of water installation in those remote, rural locations. We need to look at something like that again.

Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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Last week I outlined how several contractors being used by Irish Water are operating in a cartel-like fashion to drive up the cost of public works. This is being done to ensure that every possible cent of public funds ends up in their pockets. While local media have been covering this scandal there has still been no comment from the Department or Irish Water.

How much longer will they bury their heads in the sand and hide from this scandal? The harsh reality is that the ordinary people of Carlow and Kilkenny are paying the price for this corruption. Instead of getting their water supply fixed on time, people are getting boil water notices slapped on. Instead of leaks being fixed, valves are being installed to reduce water pressure and output, giving the impression that leaks have been reduced when, in fact, all that has been done is that the water supply has been turned down. Bennettsbridge is one of these places where huge funds are after being pumped in to fix old pipes. Now Irish Water has fecked up, so it turns down the water pressure to make it look like there is not as much leakage whereas now the question is how it will go back in there. Just a few days ago they had another burst pipe there without water or with low pressure. This is just not good enough. Just look at Castlecomer, in Kilkenny. It has rolling water restrictions all year round. It is something they have become immune to. This is a community of over 2,000 taxpaying citizens, and what do they get in return? Substandard water and second-class treatment. Then there is the community of Inistioge, where the Government's failure to invest in water facilities has brought a complete halt to new builds and is destroying local waterways due to raw sewage being discharged into the rivers.

How much longer will the Government allow this failing system to punish the public, wasting public money and neglecting people's basic right to clean water and safe infrastructure? What is going on in a lot of these situations is stuff that should be on "Prime Time". Somebody needs to investigate because the money is being wasted on contractors for them to sit in a van getting huge money and hiding rather than looking for work. It needs to be looked into.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Areas in my Dublin constituency are regularly without water for hours and days on end. Last year, in Knocklyon, over a bank holiday weekend, some areas did not have water for up to six days. Our water infrastructure simply is not up to scratch and it is down to a lack of investment. From an inability to provide water to existing homes or to provide for the thousands of future homes we desperately need, I think we all agree that the network is antiquated and dilapidated. Improvements in supply are coming too slowly and it is having a knock-on effect down the line, preventing new housing from being built. Our waterways are increasingly being polluted with urban wastewater being pumped directly into the rivers that we rely on for our drinking water. Both sides of the water infrastructure, water and wastewater, are the responsibility of Irish Water and both are being let fall apart. Since Irish Water was formed, the quality of our rivers and lakes has got worse, not better. We have not a hope of reaching our EU targets for surface quality by 2027, and we are further away than when we started. Irish Water must be more proactive in protecting our waterways rather than just a few targeted actions. It must be empowered and resourced to dictate the protection of our rivers, lakes and coastal lagoons. Forestry and farming have serious impacts on our water quality, and Irish Water cannot limit itself to simply picking up the pieces after the fact.

There is a huge job of work to be done and it is required in our water services. From communications to policy to infrastructure, there is nowhere they cannot have an improvement. People in Knocklyon and hundreds of other communities that face outrageous services or boil water notices each year deserve a lot better than they are getting. My message tonight is that we need to do a lot more. Collectively, I think we all agree that we want to see it being done. It is not being done. It was a mistake to take this away from the local authorities. The challenge now is that while people talk about rural areas and what is happening there, even in urban areas, including Dublin, this is happening too.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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As every Deputy knows, if we put down a question in this House about Irish Water now, we will get a message back from the Ceann Comhairle's office telling us we are not entitled to an answer. Who, then, is responsible for Irish Water? Does the buck stop with the Minister or a State body? That is the first question that needs to be addressed in this House, and it needs to be sorted because somebody needs to take charge of Irish Water.

I want to touch on the magnesium problem in Irish Water that the EPA and the WHO have highlighted. There is poisonous water, drinking water, in Cork city at the moment, with nobody being held accountable for it. The Minister is not investigating it and we are waiting for long-winded replies from the EPA. I have to be honest with the Minister of State. If any private chemical company in west Cork or Ringaskiddy or anywhere that direction were to carry out that type of work, there would be chief executives in the criminal courts. That is what would happen and that it is not happening. How people are not being held responsible in Irish Water for not telling the public about poisoned Irish water, poisoned drinking water, in our city is totally unacceptable.

The Minister addressed the river basins. The Government is an absolute disgrace when it comes to the River Blackwater. It has found nobody responsible for the River Blackwater and the killing of 2,000 fish and it has let it go away and forgotten about it but the people of Mallow have not forgotten about it. The people of Mallow who are dealing every day with hard water and having to replace units, kettles, showers and everything else in their homes on a regular basis or having to spend €1,000 to €2,000 on water softeners have not forgotten it. The people with no infrastructure in Cork North-Central have not forgotten about it. We have been told straight out that we need a €1 billion investment on the north side of Cork. By God, if this were in the Taoiseach's area on the south side of Cork, the €1 billion would be found for it but it is not being found for Cork North-Central. That is an absolute disgrace, and the Minister of State sits there jerking his shoulders saying, "What can we do about it? Tough luck, lads. The buck does not stop with the Minister any more." I find it unbelievable that we are having this conversation day in, day out.

We in Independent Ireland have brought this up in the House and we are doing so again. Everyone from every side of the House is saying the same thing: Irish Water is not fit for purpose. At least you had a city manager or a county manager to go to at one stage to talk about what was going on in water infrastructure and you got replies. Now you get an email address and are asked, "Can you provide me with your details?" and ten days later you might get a response.

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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We had a motion here last week in relation to Irish Water. Anyone who looked seriously at the motion would see it was simply put: accountability and timelines. The Minister of State's side refused to agree to that motion. It was very simple. They could have made an adjustment, they could have done something about it but they did not want to because the Government does not want accountability. It is aiding and abetting Uisce Éireann from avoiding accountability. The Minister of State knows this as well as I do. He is from the same constituency as me. Talk to the people of Shannonvale, Rosscarbery, Dunmanway, Ballydehob and Goleen. I joined the community council in Goleen in 1999. I am still on the community council. We brought people from all over the world who had property and who would have worked with the local authority at that time to try to see if we could put in place a new wastewater treatment plant and we were not able to do so. There is raw sewage still pouring into the tide in Goleen - imagine that - since 1999. It is astonishing. The EPA is asleep at the wheel. It is quite happy to accept all of what goes on because it is like a scam. That is all you can call it. I keep saying that. If a farmer's house is not in order and his cattle house is leaking raw slurry into the river, he is put out of business, he is closed down and he moves on. There is no acceptability on it, and there probably should not be, but it seems to be a law for one and not for another.

We did succeed, and there is no point in my being critical here, in relation to Adrigole. I know there is no bucket on the ground yet but we have to look at the positive side of the messages being sent. However, it is hard to get that message. Lord God, it is like squeezing blood out of a turnip, and none of us can do that, to get a straight answer from Uisce Éireann. If the Minister of State were to see some of the nonsensical, generic answers I am getting, it is not good enough. The Government is pumping the billions into this so it will have to sit down and get answers, get accountability, get a timeline, and the people of Shannonvale, Rosscarbery, Dunmanway, Ballydehob and Goleen might have something to look forward to rather than an endless disgrace.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)
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The bottom line is that the Government should never have taken this off the local authorities. Uisce Éireann should never have been set up. We would have accountability then because, first, the councils could keep a good eye on what needs to be done with infrastructure and within the areas. The Deputies of this House could also keep in line with that and let the Government know where the money was being sent. The other thing was that they were actually getting in contractors to do the work under their remit, under their designs, on budget, on time. The contractor was making a few pounds but he was being overseen by the local authorities. It was being done.

Now we have Uisce Éireann, Irish Water or whatever you want to call it these days. Let us audit its books. How much is going into the top-end salaries and how much is going into the ground in replacing infrastructure? The EPA came out first saying, and all governments were coming out saying, "Farmers are the biggest polluters in Ireland."

The Government is the biggest polluter in Ireland in the statistics, because all the raw sewage is going into the rivers, which people are drinking. The Government is treating it and people are drinking it. The farmers are being shown that they are the only ones who are improving the network, with all that they are doing, keeping within the criteria and all the regulations, and upgrading their systems week on week and month on month. They are making changes, but the same Government that is over them is not. How can the Government go to people, tell them they are the polluters and fine them when, if it looks at anything that is being done at the moment, we have defunct systems all over the country? I have always said and I will say again that there are people building houses. They are designing and delivering them. Let them build the infrastructure for it within the criteria of what the Government wants. They can make money on delivering it, yet the Government cannot actually deliver something that has been fully paid for by the State. There is no accountability, which is why there is no delivery. That is why we do not get any messages back from Uisce Éireann. It is unaccountable.

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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I want to raise an important issue that does not relate to Uisce Éireann or group water schemes. It is about houses that are not supplied on the public system or group water schemes. There are quite a number of such houses around the country. I believe there are around 100,000. In the valley of Glensaul in Tourmakeady, County Mayo, are 15 houses. I have been working with this community to try to get water into their homes. One man in that valley has a makeshift water connection from the local stream and on a stormy night the flow of the river washes that pipe away. He is an elderly man and it is a health hazard because reassembling this water pipe is becoming a frequent task. I have done much work on this matter and I have spoken to Uisce Éireann and officials in the local authority, but it seems there is no way that we can help him because he does not fall within the criteria of the multi-annual rural water scheme due to the number of houses. I would like the Minister of State's help with this. It is in very close proximity to the public water supply on the Lough Mask system. It is a major issue for this community. I am at a dead end with it. This is a basic need. There are elderly people in the community and significant difficulties as a result. Will the Minister of State meet me and work on this issue with me?

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to talk about water again. We talked about it six months ago. I note that the Government has announced additional funding but if you look at the amount that is proposed in the programme, it is still wholly inadequate compared with what is required. The Uisce Éireann strategic plan is looking for over €16 billion up to 2029, and it has been estimated that, up to 2050, we need to spend over €60 billion on our water and waterways. That level of investment is a wartime investment, similar to what I have raised, along with Deputy Heneghan, as regards the grid. If you are going to have the potential to get revenue from AI companies down the line to build houses, you have to have water infrastructure and grid infrastructure. We are nowhere near to making those types of investment. Even if it means breaching the EU Stability and Growth Pact, we may need to borrow for it. We have to build the capacity ourselves. We have to think much bigger. We are still importing massive amounts of fossil fuels into this country to meet our energy requirements when we could be net exporters of renewable energy, with stored renewables such as hydrogen, but we are not putting in that investment.

Regarding the water grid, if you will pardon the pun, it is a drop in the ocean. That is the problem. We need to get serious. A number of my colleagues previously referred to the issue of blaming farmers and agriculture for water. According to the EPA, that most of the at-risk water bodies - 62% - are at risk is related to agriculture and agricultural run-offs. Although I supported motions against the Mercosur agreement because it does not exactly ring-fence the environmental concerns that we have about the rainforest or market access for farmers, it is hypocritical of us to try to get a nitrates directive derogation so that we can pump more animal excrement into our waterways. On one hand, we are touting what a great Government we have for putting further investment into water, even if it is not enough. On the other hand, our waterways are being diminished. There is still an increase in the amount of less than satisfactory waterways, according to the most recent figures. It was at 52% satisfactory. Now it has come down to about 49% or 50%. If it is going at that rate, the pollution of our waterways will always increase faster than the money.

We need to tackle the grid head-on as a strategic project and front-load that money, even if we have to borrow it and go into debt. Remember that, during Covid, we spent money like there was no tomorrow. I am well aware of and have mentioned the advice from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that we should not be spending beyond our means and depending on untenable pharmaceutical revenue, but when you are looking at strategic investment that would pay us back in the medium to long term, we need to invest in water sooner rather than later.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State may be surprised because I am going to start by saying something positive. I commend the Minister, Deputy Browne, who has listened to people from the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenches since coming to office, particularly about initiating developer-led infrastructure and facilitating future housing development. It is a no-brainer that many of us have called for for many years. Once in a while, it is good to be listened to, so I hope that listening continues. I think it is the only way to get us out of the malaise we are currently in. I welcome that initiative.

That said, I will revert to my typical character. Basic communication between Uisce Éireann and others, whether county councillors or TDs, is an issue. I do not expect any special treatment. I expect that when I put in a query, I get a response. I expect to be able to meet an engineer now and again if I request it. That is not being facilitated. It is refusing outright to meet local authorities. Luckily, we meet Uisce Éireann two or three times a year. We talk about wider, broader things. I want to talk about wastewater treatment plants in individual villages. Unfortunately, the current system of communications is not good. I have often received email responses three or four months after the query initially went in to say the ticket had now been closed. I know the ticket has been closed and have known about it for weeks or months in that case.

I would like to mention the Carrignavar wastewater treatment plant, because I have mentioned it about ten times since being re-elected. It is a perfect example of the lack of joined-up thinking by Uisce Éireann. I have often listened to Senator Pat Casey talk about the Arklow wastewater treatment plant, which was built for €130 million or something like that to build a couple of hundred houses a year, whereas we are looking for a treatment plant in a village that is a seven-minute drive from the city centre and has the potential to deliver hundreds of houses. It is on the new BusConnects route. It has everything going for it but we have been told it is likely to be seven years until we get that wastewater treatment plant, by the time we go through the various permissions and so on.

I would also like to make a parting comment, which is about the people who primarily sit over in the corner of the Chamber allocated to Members of the Independent Technical Group. They are gone now so maybe I should not individualise them. If this was an easy fix, this would have been done a long time ago. If anybody actually talks to Uisce Éireann and is sincere in discussions with it, particularly in the northside of Cork, they will know we are talking about decades of work that need to happen, particularly with the replacement of pipes, including cast iron pipes and lead pipes. For people over there to constantly come in and suggest it is as easy as clicking fingers, writing cheques and doing the whole thing overnight is disingenuous and they need to be called out for it.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I start by agreeing with Deputy O'Sullivan about developer-led infrastructure. That is a good, positive development by the Minister, Deputy Browne, which is to be welcomed. More of that, please.

There are two important projects on the northside of Dublin coming down the line, which are really important for infrastructure and the development of the wider region. The first is the Shannon to Dublin water project, which shows the scale of the challenge and what ambition is needed now. It is a pipeline over 170 km long, costing a minimum of €5 billion, but it has the potential to meet up to half of Ireland's overall water needs to 2050 and beyond for the next generation and generation after that.

In the greater Dublin region, not just the city, 85% of the water comes from the River Liffey. This is a huge number by international standards. One big incident in the Liffey and our raw water supply would be knocked out, with potentially catastrophic consequences for Dublin and the wider region. It is a huge risk and one we have to grapple with.

Uisce Éireann has been clear in recent years that the delivery of new homes and businesses is already being delayed and is at serious risk of even being abandoned at this stage. The company projects that we require 34% more uisce in the eastern and midlands region by 2044 than is available today. This speaks volumes about the growth expected in the region and the importance of continuing to support and invest in Uisce Éireann.

Hand in hand with that, we have sewage treatment. It is great to see that the legal challenge to the greater Dublin drainage project has been withdrawn. I hope that project can now progress. It is in Clonshaugh in my constituency and it is vital for dealing with sewage for at least 300,000 new houses, again, not just in the city but in the greater Dublin region, including Meath and other counties. Its importance to the region is vital to getting sewage treatment transformed.

As I said, these projects are vital. We cannot afford a repeat of the delays of the past. If we fail to deliver these projects, the two big ones I mentioned in particular, we risk jeopardising housing delivery and economic growth in this region for generations to come.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I will follow up on many of the themes raised by many of my colleagues on this side of the House. I welcome the level of investment to go into Uisce Éireann over the next few years. From meeting the Uisce Éireann team at the infrastructure committee, I know the company is very positive about having the funds in place, not only to do the work it wants to do to repair water lines but also to help as regards the housing needed over the coming years. Uisce Éireann is very positive that the funding it is getting from the Government puts it in a strong position. As much as we hear about the negative things happening in the country, the fact that this country is being run so well gives us a financial capability that is very positive, as we are seeing with Uisce Éireann. Notwithstanding that, it is also very positive that the Government is prepared to have developer-led innovations. Deputy Ó Muirí alluded to the Shannon-to-Dublin scheme and it is very important that we are able to do that.

I raise the issue of communication, which Deputy O’Sullivan also referred to. If there is one thing we need to fix, this is it. As I said, from my work on the infrastructure committee, I can see it works well at the top, but at councillor level and in local communities, we can do things better. In Celbridge, for example, a new programme of works is being planned for the next nine months. It is hugely significant work on the main artery into Celbridge. I attended a communication evening - I think I was one of the few public representatives who did - and I learned a huge amount. I will not say it was not advertised enough, but I am not sure the people of Celbridge are fully aware of what is planned in respect of the work coming downstream. I put it to the county council that I do not think the plan in place is good enough. I am working with Kildare County Council and Uisce Éireann to fix that ahead of the problem coming. We have also had huge traffic issues with the works being done on the Maynooth transfer pipeline. People were caught on the hop by that project.

Uisce Éireann is doing a lot of work. The Government is prepared to innovate and Ministers are ready to listen to our ideas on this side of the bench. As part of my role on the infrastructure committee, I will continue to liaise with Uisce Éireann. I commend the company on the work it is doing. As with everything, we can do better and get more things in the capital plan, including in local areas, for example, getting water bursts in Leixlip resolved too.

Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on water infrastructure, in particular, the role of private group water schemes, which remain essential in rural communities. Many of these schemes have benefited from grant assistance over the years, and that investment is clearly delivering results. Many are operating at an exceptionally high standard, with regular testing, ongoing monitoring and strong local management.

What concerns me, however, is the increasing and, in some cases, disproportionate pressure and threats now being placed on certain group water schemes by water services authorities. We are seeing cases where extremely low coliform readings, in fact close to zero, are being used to justify demands for full-scale treatment. The treatment includes mandatory chlorination. Any balanced and professional assessment would recognise that a marginal reading does not automatically indicate a public health risk, particularly where repeated results are satisfactory. In these cases, UV treatment is in place and no E. coli is detected.

There is a real opportunity for local authorities and private group water schemes to work together constructively, with a focus on guidance, reassurance and continuous improvement. Many of those involved in running these schemes do so on a voluntary basis and are deeply committed to maintaining safe, reliable water supplies. Protecting water quality is essential and everyone involved shares the same objective. What matters is that regulation is applied in a way that is evidence-based, proportionate and practical and that reflects the realities of how the schemes operate on the ground.

Private group water schemes have consistently shown that where they are supported and engaged with constructively, they respond positively and also responsibly. Strengthening that collaborative model is in the best interests of rural communities and water security across the country. We should spare a thought for the many villages that do not have an Irish Water supply or group water scheme. I can speak about two or three in my constituency of Galway East, particularly areas in Dunmore, that are crying out for a connection to a group water scheme or an Irish Water supply. There are being told little or nothing by the local authority.

My bottom line is that when we have exceptionally run group water schemes, which, as I mentioned, have no coliforms and close to zero readings, it is an insult for the local authority to apply undue pressure by suggesting these schemes be taken over by Irish Water.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the significant work being delivered by the Minister, Deputy Browne, the Minister of State and the accelerated infrastructure programme brought forward by the Minister, Deputy Chambers. That programme is about unlocking funding, removing bottlenecks and clearing whatever is holding up progress on critical infrastructure projects. This work is welcome and necessary. However, the reality on the ground in County Offaly tells a very different story.

Across our towns and villages, expansion is effectively frozen. Homes cannot be built because communities are waiting years, and sometimes decades, for water treatment plants. This has left developers, local authorities and approved housing bodies unable to meet housing demand. In the middle of a housing crisis, that is simply unacceptable.

In other areas, the situation is even more serious. We have raw sewage coming up through manholes, destroying roads and footpaths and flowing directly into the canal. If this were a private company, the State would be all over it, using every environmental regulation available. It would be shut down until the problem was solved, yet Irish Water has been allowed to get away with this year after year. Recently, during very heavy rainfall, sewage again surged up through the manholes and reached as far as people’s front doors. Residents were left distressed and angry, and rightly so. Irish Water has failed to give proper assurances to residents or councillors that the system will be actively monitored during periods of heavy rainfall, pipes will be kept clear or meaningful temporary measures will be put in place to protect homes.

Irish Water says it has completed a survey in Tullamore and will put in over 3 km of wastewater piping, starting in the fourth quarter of this year. I want the Minister of State and the Minister to make sure this happens and that Irish Water cannot put it on the long finger. As we know, Irish Water is very good at that. What about Birr, Cloghan, Banagher, Ferbane, Kilcormac, Rhode and Edenderry? When are we going to get help to allow these towns to grow? Even where temporary measures have worked so far, they are exactly that - temporary.

At some point they will fail and we will be back to square one. That is not good enough. The people of Tyrells Road and Tullamore deserve better. The message is simple: stop managing the problem - get it fixed and get the work done now.

I want to address the Shannon water supply project. This is a vital national project, currently projected to begin in 2028 and conclude in 2032, all going to plan. If our country is to grow and develop sustainably, it is essential that this project happens. As part of this project, there are proposed spurs for Tullamore and Mullingar and a connection to Nenagh. That is under phase 2. I am asking clearly and firmly that these spurs be delivered as part of phase 1. We have all seen what happens with so-called phase 2 projects. They are delayed by maybe 20, 30 or even 40 years or never happen at all. These spurs are not optional extras; they are vital to the future growth of Tullamore, Mullingar and Nenagh and to achieve balanced regional growth. We cannot afford more delays, more broken promises or more communities left behind. Infrastructure must lead development, not block it.

Ann Graves (Dublin Fingal East, Sinn Fein)
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Households pay for their water. It is not free. It is an essential service covered by general taxation, which funds Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann was dressed up as a solution to all our water problems, but for the people in Dublin Fingal East whom I represent, this is not the case. Uisce Éireann is a major obstacle to the progress on building houses and getting them out for sale to new families. We have a phase of new homes in Knocksedan, a housing development that has been delayed because Uisce Éireann would not give the go-ahead to the developer for a new pumping station. This was only resolved in January of this year, following 18 emails from myself and phone calls to Uisce Éireann. In the meantime, the developer was also contacting Uisce Éireann, but nothing happened. Each communication was assigned a new ticket which further delayed the resolution and caused further frustration for new residents. Initially, it was a planning issue. Then it was permission from a landowner, then it was a riser and then the planning went out of date and new drawings had to be done. This was all at the cost of the developer and home buyers. Some of them who had given up rental properties had to move back in with their families. Some of them have had to go for new mortgage reapproval and some people are sofa surfing while they wait for these houses to be delivered. They expected them in the summer of last year. In June last year, I contacted the Minister to intervene to ensure that the connections would be carried out as a matter of urgency, allowing families to move in as soon as possible. This is in the middle of a housing crisis. This has caused huge hardship, stress and expense to these families.

In another case, a woman living in Donabate contacted me regarding asbestos pipes in her home and garden. The water for new development in Donabate is being forced through the old pipes, causing leaks. The water floods her garden and her septic tank and this requires huge clean-up which is extremely costly and a health and safety risk. The last flood came right up to her front door. Unfortunately, Uisce Éireann has no plans to replace the pipes, so this issue will be ongoing for some time until the replacements can be added to the schedule of works for Uisce Éireann. This is unacceptable. These are just two examples of cases that are affecting people's homes, not even touching on the infrastructural problems that we have. Uisce Éireann is a public utility funded by the public. It is about time it serves the public.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I was in the Chamber earlier and one speaker after another got up and slammed corporate communications from Uisce Éireann. That is fair to say. Any of us, who, at this point, have decent enough communications, it is usually on the ground and it relates to engineers and those who work for Uisce Éireann and would have previously worked for the council and some who still do. This is not good enough when you want to get information on the major operations. If somebody landed from Mars, the one thing they would understand is that we have clean water and wastewater infrastructure that is not fit for purpose and is posing huge issues in relation to the delivery of housing, but also to industry. I get it. This is not the starting point you would want, but we are where we are.

Dundalk, similar to an awful lot of places, has had an issue with water discolouration that is caused by increased amounts of manganese that was reacting with chlorine and causing rotten, brown gunk water. Obviously, no matter how many times Uisce Éireann or anybody else said it was drinkable and safe, people refused to believe that. Many will talk about the damage that has been done, whether it is to clothes, utensils, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. The only good news in the last period is that there has been some element of success, in the sense of a system that works, with a number of the operations that were being tested and filter systems in Cavan Hill, which deals with the majority of Dundalk. The press release spoke about great strides to be taken in 2026, but I do not see a completion date. I have been in here many times before and spoken about the issue over years.

At times, I have had decent contact with Irish Water, but then the person changes and you do not get it and no elected representative can get the sort of representation or connection that they want. That is something I would like the Government to bring up with Irish Water, another agency or scenario set up to be at an arm's length from the Government. For wastewater, clean water and treatment plants, we are talking about 2029 or 2033. None of this is good enough. We need real action.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Bhí mé ag éisteacht le gach duine sa Teach seo. Táim i gcónaí ag tabhairt amach le daoine atá sa Civil Service. Sometimes it is warranted. I heard Deputy Ó Murchú mention that sometimes you do get that rare gem. I thank Keith Conmy from Uisce Éireann for all that the work he helped me with for the residents of Mask Avenue. We give out enough about civil servants. It is only fair to we clap for them when they do their job. He was sending me updates at 11.30 p.m., constantly keeping residents informed. That is the kind of civil servant I would love to see across the board in all of our Departments, but it is not there sometimes. When it comes to bonuses, I heard people giving out and it is fair enough. If there were targeted bonuses for people, he deserves one. I hope he got one. If civil servants in Uisce Éireann and the ESB had clear targets, it would be understandable for them to get bonuses. They are being given bonuses for clear water when that is what they do. If they had clear targets on how many emails or reps they are doing, that would be beneficial.

To be clear, when we talk about Uisce Éireann, I have given out about Dublin Bay and people literally swimming in human waste. I have given out about the current flood defence. Sometimes there is not joined-up thinking when it comes to Uisce Éireann and active travel. Roads have had cycleways put in and then been torn up a month later to put in a pipe. There needs to be a bit more communication in that sense. Speaking of communication, I know - and I have heard other Deputies from north Dublin speak about this - that we are going to have a pipe along the promenade at Clontarf seafront, one of the great amenities of north Dublin. It would be great for the flood defence to be done at the same time while the plant hire is down there. It makes no sense to dig up the whole thing, put in traffic restrictions and disrupt the entire of north Dublin and then six months later put in a flood defence. It should be done at the same time. There needs to be practical, logical thinking.

I was endorsed by Seán Dublin Bay Loftus, a former Independent TD. When he was running for this House, he was trying to save Dublin Bay. Now, Dublin Bay still needs protection. We see oysters are being introduced at Howth. I would love to see some at the entrance where the River Tolka goes into the bay. They are natural filters. There is a clear issue with water pollution. Sometimes there are e. coli levels of 3,000 parts per million in Dublin Bay. That is six times the safe amount. That is not six times what should be there. People are getting ear infections and going to the doctor for swimming, getting out and socialising. That needs to be looked at.

I hear Deputy Ó Muirí discuss the Shannon to Dublin project. I am delighted to see how much it would be doing. I heard Deputy Gogarty talk about me with private wires and energy. I will not go into that. We are discussing Uisce Éireann. Water infrastructure and housing need to go hand in hand. I am delighted to see the great work of the engineers on the Shannon project.

Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)
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I am thankful for the opportunity this evening. I commend the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Browne, in particular for the initiative to work with developers on wastewater and to accelerate the delivery of housing. That is something that we would have raised in Meath in various meetings with Uisce Éireann over the years. I also commend the water caretakers in Meath County Council, who have done sterling work, often bridging the gap in terms of communication with residents.

I wish to flag a couple of points in relation to communication.

We have some serious water issues in Dunboyne and Trim in County Meath at the moment. I refer in particular to one housing estate in Dunshaughlin called the Willows. Communication on the part of Uisce Éireann is absolutely key. I remind consumers to sign up for the text alert scheme. That would be very timely and welcome. The wastewater piece for infrastructure delivery is in train. Perhaps something in connection with the development companies and the delivery of water in the first instance is going to be looked at.

Another matter I wish to flag is the emerging area of energy hubs and the colocation of battery storage, solar farms, gas peaking plants, etc. Given that this may be coming down the line, there will be a need to estimate water requirements in advance. There are quite a number of data centres in County Meath. I am of the view that rainwater harvesting should be looked at, particularly as conditions of planning, either current or retrospective, would be a high priority. This is linked to the issue of judicial reviews. There have been many submissions to the Department in relation to the Aarhus Convention. There are genuine and legitimate concerns on the part of residents who want the infrastructure to the put in place first. We need housing delivery, but the concerns of existing residents in areas that are under pressure in the context of water infrastructure need to be listened to.

On farming, the nitrates derogation, etc., I draw the Minister of State's attention to a Facebook page called Fighting Dirty. It is based in County Louth and provides evidence-based information on wastewater outlets.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about water, water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. Many of our towns and villages do not have either adequate water or sufficient capacity in their treatment plants. There are many villages and settlements that do not have wastewater treatment plants. I wish to focus my attention on two estates at the top of Aghadoe where the outfall is down into the lakes of Killarney. I have raised this numerous times, including with the Taoiseach and as a Topical Issue. It is still going on. The matter has not been resolved. There are two treatment plants there that are completely outdated. Sewage from them is spilling over. This time the last year during the storm and the flooding that followed, it flowed down the road. Where did it finish up? We all know where it had to finish up. The outfall is into the lakes of Killarney, so that is where it eventually finished up.

There is a problem here. Irish Water has taken responsibility for the duties relating to this matter. A total of €998,000 was allocated to Kerry County Council. The council could not get Irish Water to work with it in order to do the necessary work. It cannot deal with the matter at all now because it does not have responsibility for it. I am asking the Minister of State and the Taoiseach to get involved. The people in the village have waited seven years for action. There is an environmental hazard. It is not fair on the town of Killarney to allow this. It is also not fair on the estates in question. I ask Irish Water, Kerry County Council's environmental section and the engineers who were involved in the water services and sewerage services previously to work together to resolve this. A sum of €998,000 was made available by the Department. The residents have collected €74,000. There is a shortfall of about €400,000. Wherever it comes from, that money will have to be got. Irish Water will have to be deployed. This is an emergency. The tourist season is approaching. In Killarney, tourism is the prime income for many people.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I know, Deputy. We hear all your points. I have no doubt.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I have raised this matter several times before. I am asking now, and I am getting very impatient about it-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Deputy's time is up.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I am depending on the Minister of State to deliver the message that this has to be sorted out.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy and call on the Minister of State to conclude.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Healy-Rae. I am sure he will be heard loud and clear. There is no fear about that.

I thank all Deputies for their contributions. There are clear messages and themes coming across. It is around timelines of delivery of much-needed infrastructure. It is around communication, which is obviously coming across quite clearly. It is also around the fact that so many of our towns and villages remain without adequate wastewater treatment or even water supplies. I was glad to hear that some Deputies mentioned the issue of biodiversity and habitats and the impact it is having in that regard. That will have to be fed back. We are at a point here where we either get behind this utility company, support it in any way we can and give it the necessary resources to deliver or we do not. The Government is clear that it is going to back it in terms of addressing the huge scale of what is out there to address.

I acknowledge the important work the Government is doing on water quality by means of the water action plan, which is derived from the water framework directive and outlines the additional measures we will take to protect and restore our natural water resources, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. These measures include ongoing actions and investment across critical sectors, such as agriculture, forestry and water service provision, that bear the greatest burden in tackling pollution. The national development plan funding provides €306 million investment to support additional targeted measures to restore and improve water quality in rural and urban settings, as well as improving river habitats. This funding will support a wide range of capital investment in water protection initiatives operated by local authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland and directly by my Department. This will include the development of specific evidence-based targeted programmes to drive water quality improvement. First, the farming for water European investment partnership, EIP, was launched in March 2024. The aim of this partnership is to support farmers in the implementation of supplementary measures on farmlands where agricultural activities are impacting water quality. Second, a scheme which will fund urban nature-based solution projects will be undertaken by local authorities to manage surface water, drainage and rainfall. Third, the national river barrier mitigation programme will fund the removal of or the mitigation of impacts of barriers in our rivers. These are all very important measures in terms of biodiversity and habitats. I acknowledge the strong co-operation across Departments, State agencies, non-Government organisations and communities in the development and implementation of these water quality programmes and initiatives.

Work relating to water quality can get lost in the focus on water service delivery by Uisce Éireann, as evidenced in the contributions of Members this evening. The Government is fully behind Uisce Éireann. This is reflected in the record national development plan allocation of €11.7 billion over the next five years. This funding will support the delivery of a wide range of projects in our cities and regions required for housing delivery, safeguarding public health and the environment. It is worth reflecting on the increased scale of investment in Uisce Éireann. It has had a fourfold increase in investment on water services and infrastructure, rising from €300 million in 2014 to €1.4 billion this year.

The transfer of operation and control of public water services from local authorities to direct Uisce Éireann responsibility represents one of the largest public sector reform programmes in recent years and involves numerous facilities around the country and over 3,000 full-time and part-time local authority workers. Significant progress has been made in transforming the water sector. This transformation is due to be completed at the end of this year in a safe and co-ordinated manner without compromising service continuity. It has also been stated and acknowledged many times in this House that a legacy of underinvestment in our water infrastructure by local authorities means that there are many challenges that Uisce Éireann is seeking to address, while also providing for significant increased capacity for future businesses and population growth. The scale of the remedial work necessary in our waters and wastewater systems will, however, take a number of years and investment cycles to resolve fully.

Where new treatment plants or significant upgrades of existing plans are required, the design planning, procurement, construction and commissioning process can take five to ten years. I know this is very frustrating. Having a single water authority allows for the co-ordinated delivery of water services to enable housing capacity. For example, Uisce Éireann's new growth investment programme will target 72 settlements across Ireland where the existing wastewater infrastructure can support significant housing development quickly. With the additional investment in operating in tandem with an enhanced small towns and village growth programme, this programme targets wastewater treatment plants serving populations of under 2,000 people that are either non-compliant, overloaded or projected to become so in the next five to ten years.

Over 300 candidate sites have been identified and ranked by local authorities based on housing pressures and to ensure that investment is directed where it can unlock the greatest potential.

I want to emphasise the benefits of Uisce Éireann's national-level projects. The water supply project for the eastern and midlands region is a generational project to supply water from the Shannon to the east of the country. The project will have capacity for off-takes in counties Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath, thereby benefiting local communities along the route. Crucially, it also will enable supply serving Dublin to be redirected back locally into counties Carlow, Wicklow, Meath and Louth. The benefits of this project, which only a national utility can deliver, are spread far beyond the greater Dublin area.

In tandem with the water supply project, the greater Dublin drainage project, GDD, is critical to facilitate growth in the greater Dublin area. The new wastewater treatment plant will be situated in the southern fringes of Fingal immediately outside the M50 motorway in County Dublin, and will serve north Dublin and parts of the surrounding counties of Kildare and Meath. The GDD will provide additional treatment and network capacity to support long-term sustainable growth for the greater Dublin region and to ensure Ireland continues to meet our objectives under European law. Just yesterday, the Government approved the upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant and a new bioresource centre for Limerick city. This represents an investment of over €250 million in the mid-west and follows similar large-scale projects in Arklow and Athlone delivered last year, with further planned investment in Waterford and elsewhere.

As we have heard quite regularly in the House throughout the day, communication is an area that Uisce Éireann clearly needs to improve on. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has asked Uisce Éireann to review its approach to communications and engagement, particularly with Members of the House, as a matter of priority. As my colleagues have outlined, beyond Uisce Éireann the Government is supporting a wide range of measures to support rural water services, protect our rivers and meet our international obligations. These also form part of our overall approach to water and they are benefiting from the record funding allocated to the water sector under the NDP.

There is much that has been accomplished and even more that will be accomplished in the coming years. The Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services. The Government is committed to making sure that all areas of our water services infrastructure and water quality are strengthened and that all our communities feel the benefits of this unprecedented investment in water.

Clearly there has been an emphasis on Uisce Éireann today in terms of delivery but I really think it is important that we do not lose the focus on water quality. This comes in many forms and not just drinking water, which of course is essential, but also habitats and the stunning rivers, lakes, streams and estuaries that support so much life. There really is an onus on us to emphasise and support addressing issues with these habitats also. It is happening and there are some incredible schemes out there nationally that focus on these habitats. Lady's Island Lake is a stunning lagoon that is unique. As the Ceann Comhairle knows well, through co-operation with the farming community, Wexford County Council, the local authorities waters programme, LAWPRO, and many other organisations we are formulating a plan to ensure the lake can be restored to its former glory and will continue to support its habitat. This is being done through the farming for water EIP, which I mentioned earlier. This supports farmers who introduce and implement additional measures.

We are going to have to have serious conversations about the pressures on our water systems and various uses and land uses, whether it is development, farming or drainage. There are things we can do before our water gets to the different treatment systems. I commend the work of LAWPRO, the local authorities water programme. It is doing incredible work with local authorities and communities on the ground to ensure many of these ecosystems are protected.

Coming back to the main theme of today's conservation, we realise that Uisce Éireann certainly has not got everything right. We realise there is a necessity to focus on wastewater projects and water supply. The Minister and Ministers of State in the Department know there are towns, villages, cities and urban areas where improvements are needed or where basic infrastructure is needed. We know that some of these timelines are very hard to stomach and very frustrating but when we think about the various licences and permits that are needed, we can understand. There is now a focus on reducing a lot of the red tape and on allowing us to deliver at scale. More than anything, what has come across today is that we have to get the message to Uisce Éireann that communication is important. We will support Uisce Éireann and give it the resources to ensure we scale up the delivery of wastewater treatment.