Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome back to the House this morning to discuss this Commencement matter regarding the taking in charge of housing estates and the input required from Irish Water in that regard. Irish Water states that it is co-operating with the planning authorities nationally to access the taking in charge of residential estates and the transfer of water services assets located in those estates to Uisce Éireann for ongoing operation and maintenance. Unfortunately, however, all over the country, residents in many housing estates are finding the process of their estates being taken in charge by the local authority as very long and frustrating. Many of the residents are being told that the process is being held up by Irish Water. They are being told this by their local authority. Money has been spent in many cases by the local authorities to bring the developments up to a point where they are ready to be taken in charge but from there on, the problem seems to arise with Irish Water with regard to the taking in charge of their infrastructure.

Residents tell me that typically when a query goes into Irish Water, they basically get an automated response that their request has been recognised and is cued for response, and that a team member will be in contact with them shortly. Unfortunately, that seems to be as far as the process goes. In County Monaghan, which is a relatively small county, 28 estates are currently caught in this logjam where the local authority states it has provided all the necessary information to Irish Water but, unfortunately, that is where the roadblock seems to be. If a small county like Monaghan has 28 estates caught in this quagmire, it is safe to assume the same applies right across the country with many people finding themselves in that situation. Thousands of people are basically left in a limbo situation.

I know of someone who is trying to dispose of a property and someone who is trying to purchase the property. The fact the estate has not been taken in charge by the local authority makes it difficult for someone to get finance to purchase that property. Their legal advice would be not to purchase it, due to the fact the estate has not been taken in charge. It would be too onerous a responsibility on the owner to purchase such a property in that instance. Therefore, from the point of view of the legal advice and, indeed, the difficulty in getting finance to purchase such a property, unfortunately, these people are going nowhere.

There is also the additional problem of what is called developer provided infrastructure, DPI.There are many instances where a developer will have put in the infrastructure at the outset of the development but, unfortunately, the developer is no longer around and the residents are left with it. The local authorities are telling me that Irish Water is point-blank refusing even to discuss the possibility of taking these developments in charge. That is another issue that needs to be addressed. I do not know what the problem is with Irish Water, whether it is a lack of staff or a lack of finance on its part, but something needs to be done. In the case of some of these estates, the process has been going on for five, six or seven years and that is simply not good enough.

I hope the Minister of State can shed some light on the issue as to what the problem is with Irish Water and, more important, what solutions we have in mind to address this current impasse.