Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Councillors from all parties throughout the country have brought to my attention a further problem with Irish Water. Irish Water is refusing to instruct the local authority as its agent to carry out repairs to housing estates that have not been taken into charge where problems occur with pumping stations with sewerage, etc. My county, Tipperary, has 40 estates that have not been taken in charge. In Carrick-on-Suir, my town, Manor estate has serious problems with sewerage systems. Irish Water will not allow the local authority to address the problem. Many of these estates are owned by developers whose companies have been liquidated and liquidators are dealing with the financial problems. The liquidators are not dealing with the issues the residents are encountering. The local authority is not allowed to deal with it. Irish Water will not instruct the local authority to deal with it. The local councillors are frustrated at the lack of any developments on the issue.

I ask the Leader to contact the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government on behalf of all these residents across the country and on behalf of councillors who are totally frustrated with the situation to put a contingency fund into place until these estates are taken in charge which would allow Irish Water to give instructions to the local authority to carry out the repairs that are necessary. The difficulty will only be in the short term because most of these estates will be taken in charge in the next 12 months. Irish Water was very happy to take all the assets from all the local authorities across the country worth billions of euro but it is refusing to deal with the problem I am pointing out now. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to address this matter urgently.