David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Section 26(5) provides that "Irish Water shall, when preparing a water services strategic plan ... ensure, as far as practicable, that the plan is consistent with ... the National Spatial Strategy". It refers to "the" national spatial strategy rather than to "a" national spatial strategy. I was not looking for the definition of what a national spatial strategy is. I was asking what national spatial strategy is being looked at. We know the 2002 national spatial strategy was scrapped and that this Government intends to produce some form of new national spatial strategy at some point. The Government is also introducing a fundamental reform of regional and local government. Section 26(5) also refers to "regional planning guidelines". The point I am making is that there will be significant reform in this area, some of which will be good and some of which might not be so good. The reform of regional and local government is coming, as is a new national spatial strategy.

People outside the big urban centres of Dublin, Cork and Galway believe that much of the development that has taken place in recent times, especially since this Government came into office, has been concentrated on the three locations I have mentioned. That is where the Government's strategy is at. That is the Government's notion of a spatial strategy. That raises concerns about other areas that have not benefited from job creation or from State investment generally. Very senior civil servants and local authority personnel in my city of Waterford have expressed genuine concern that the bigger urban centres are getting a disproportionate level of State investment in comparison with cities like Waterford.

We are discussing the development of a long-term strategic plan for water services. Under this Bill, the plan will be based on a national spatial strategy that does not exist and regional planning guidelines which will change in the future. It is quite right for us to raise these issues now. We want to ensure balanced regional development is at the core of all of this. The point I am making is that there must be balance in development right across the board. We know the provision of water is a very important consideration when efforts are being made to attract jobs and investment. As the Leader of the House will know, we are fortunate enough to have first class wastewater infrastructure in Waterford as a result of the forward thinking of the local authorities in the region. I refer especially to the regional authority and to Waterford City Council. There are fears about what will happen when this power is taken from those authorities and given to a central body that will have regard to new plans and new thinking about the development of this country from a spatial strategy perspective. I raised this issue in the context of this genuine concern.