Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Senator has raised an important issue. The number of 28 estates in County Monaghan is significant. The Water Services Acts 2007 to 2020 set out the arrangements in place for the delivery of water and wastewater services by Uisce Éireann and for the scrutiny and oversight provisions that apply in respect of these arrangements. Water and wastewater connection issues are a matter for Uisce Éireann, which has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level.

The taking in charge of residential estates is primarily the statutory responsibility of the planning authority under section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. In accordance with existing Government policy guidelines, Uisce Éireann is co-operating with the planning authorities nationally to assess the taking in charge of residential estates and the transfer of water services assets in these estates to it for ongoing operation and maintenance. In practice, all local authorities are working in collaboration with Uisce Éireann in the taking in charge of residential estates in accordance with signed understandings and protocols leading to the transfer of water services infrastructure assets within the estates to Uisce Éireann. For new estates, under Uisce Éireann’s connections policy, once it has been established developers have met all the conditions of the connection offer, Uisce Éireann takes over the water and wastewater element. If estates have not been taken in charge, Uisce Éireann has no authority or responsibility for water services that are not in public ownership.

As for volumes of overall taking in charge activity, Uisce Éireann is working through 2,368 taking-in-charge applications in all 31 local authority areas, excluding group water schemes and developer-provided infrastructure, which are additional programmes. A total of 1,313 taking in charge estates are complete to date, including 57,885 housing units. More than 60% of the estates have been taken in charge for water and wastewater nationwide. This equates to 618 km of water mains and 554 km of wastewater pipes.

In regard to County Monaghan specifically, Uisce Éireann has received applications for 36 housing estates to be taken in charge. Of these, 17 are being queried by Uisce Éireann with notices returned to the local authority setting out the queries. The queries include the case or basis for the estate being transferred and incomplete information with the application. Uisce Éireann is working with Monaghan County Council on progressing the other 19 applications.

The Government is committed to the significant and sustained investment needed to ensure the continued operation, upgrade and repair of the country’s water and wastewater infrastructure and to support economic development in the years to come. In this regard, budget 2023 secured more than €1.78 billion to support water services, so it is certainly not a financial issue. This includes €1.65 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Uisce Éireann. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, support improved water supplies throughout Ireland, including rural Ireland, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area, making a significant contribution to addressing Ireland’s needs.

I will follow up in my response to the issue of developer-provided infrastructure the Senator raised.