Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House to deal with the issue of water and wastewater infrastructure as raised by Senators Byrne and Garvey. The Senators are sharing time and have four minutes in total. Should I toss a coin to determine who goes first?

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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Senator Byrne is letting me go first and is hoping I will stop early and leave him some time.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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He is a gentleman to his fingertips.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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Letting me go first is a big risk.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss this important issue. Water is the basis of all human life.We live in, we drink it, we sleep in it, we wash ourselves in it, we grow all our food with it and we swim in it. It is such an important issue and we still have major problems with water in rural Ireland. That is why I and my colleague, Senator Byrne, are raising this matter today. The lack of infrastructure is paralysing the renewal of villages and towns and that is something on which we both fought during the programme for Government negotiations. If we do not sort out our water network, we will not have housing or people living in our villages and towns again. People will not move back into derelict buildings and they will not be able to build houses in the serviced sites around our villages and towns. I will give one example but I could cite many between Malin Head to Mizen Head. Broadford is a lovely village on the other side of the county in east Clare, very near Limerick city. It is a perfect place for people who cannot afford the city prices or who do not want to deal with city traffic or large schools and businesses. Such people could move to Broadford but it has no water infrastructure. It has an amazing school and is a lovely village but without water infrastructure nothing is going to happen there. There are so many beautiful old buildings that could be lived in, renewed and revived but they need water treatment plants, as do many other towns.

A total of 36 areas in ten counties are still releasing untreated wastewater into our environment. In 57 areas across 21 counties, raw sewage discharges are the only significant pollutant for bodies of water. We often try to blame farmers for everything but I am claiming this one back as a problem of raw sewage. Some 66% of environmental water pollution incidents are due to a lack of sufficient treatment capacity.

Of course we have one-off issues with water as well but one very important issue has come to light. It is becoming so serious now that families are ringing me whose children are experiencing kidney failure as a result of swimming in water with E. coli. This is happening again and again. County Clare had to close its beaches numerous times over the short summer during which businesses could make some money. That is why I am going to keep highlighting this as often as I can until we get the funding sorted. It was great to see this issue included in the budget but today we want clarity around when the Government is going to act. We set up Irish Water to solve the significant problems that existed such as half our treated water leaking but we need to take this seriously if we are serious about regional rebalance. Now that people can work from home more, this is the most important time to do this. If we do it right, it could be a real turning point and villages and towns that have been waning for years to finally becoming bright, shiny places to live in again. That is what we need for people's mental, physical and social health.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I echo the remarks of the Senator. Much as this is an issue in Clare, it is also an issue in counties Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow. This is not just an environmental concern. Dealing with this issue could revitalise our rural communities and villages. We have a planning issue whereby many people are being told they cannot have one-off housing, but we should at least allow them to live in their local villages. Doing so will also support the local shops, post offices and schools. Our problem at the moment is that many villages lack the three Ws - water, Wi-Fi, and wastewater. If we can address those matters, we can revolutionise how we support rural living. This is about small towns and villages all over the country such as Ferns, Camolin, Our Lady's Island, Ramsgrange and Campile in County Wexford. There are many others and I am sure the Minister of State could name some in Kilkenny as well. Imagine if we as a Government were able to provide the infrastructure to those villages. It would support our remote working strategy and would be far more sustainable environmentally, but most important, the quality of life for people living in those communities would be transformed. That is why both I and Senator Garvey wanted to raise this but I am sure it is a concern of Senators in all parties and Members of both Houses. We ask that the Government prioritises a programme to provide the necessary water and wastewater infrastructure for our rural towns and villages.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Senators Garvey and Byrne for raising this important issue and doing it so well and speaking so eloquently on behalf of the communities they represent. I am very familiar with some of the places listed, as someone from as a neighbouring county in a beautiful part of the country. From the programme for Government point of view, it is vitally important that this is a core element of our town centres first policy. If we are serious about balanced regional development and our smaller towns and villages, water and wastewater infrastructure, along with broadband and Wi-Fi, are critical infrastructure. That is absolutely correct.I wholeheartedly endorse and support the Senators' raising of this issue. It is timely and important. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of public water service planning, delivery and operation at the national, regional and local levels. As the Senators will be aware, prior to that the 31 local authorities were responsible and would have had the capability to fulfil that responsibility, were it not for persistent underfunding. As part of budget 2021, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has secured funding of more than €1.4 billion to support water services. This includes €1.3 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, support improved water supplies right across Ireland, including in rural Ireland, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area. The programme for Government commits to supporting the take-up of Irish Water's small towns and villages growth programme, which is intended to provide water and wastewater growth capacity in smaller settlements which would not otherwise be provided for in its capital investment plan.

It should also be noted that Irish Water is subject to independent economic regulation by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, which determines the revenue required by Irish Water to meet its efficient operating and capital costs to ensure that it operates in an efficient manner in delivering its services to customers. Therefore, Irish Water put forward to the CRU for consideration proposals for a small towns and villages growth programme as part of its capital investment plan for the period from 2020 to 2024. The programme is intended to support of a number of the national policy objectives and national strategic outcomes under the national planning framework. I understand from Irish Water that an allocation of €97.5 million for this programme was approved by the CRU. I also understand that the design of projects is now commencing and that investment under the programme will begin to deliver in the coming years. Irish Water is working with local authorities across the country to ensure the investment supports the growth of identified settlements where these are prioritised in line with the local authority development plans, which again align and will come on stream in the coming months.

In addition to the major investment delivered by Irish Water, my Department also funds rural water investment under the multi-annual rural water programme. This programme supports investment in community-based group schemes and the improvement of wells and septic tanks. The current investment programme is based on recommendations from the working group established in April 2018 to conduct a review of rural water services.

There is a two-strand approach to the considerations of the working group. The first strand considered the composition and distribution of funding under the rural water programme while the second is considering the long-term future resourcing of the rural water sector more generally. The issue of wastewater infrastructure in villages not serviced by Irish Water is a matter which the working group will consider as part of its work. The Department expects a further report from the group in 2021.

I again acknowledge the Senators for raising this important matter. It is vitally important that we continue to keep it on the agenda. They can be absolutely assured of the Government's commitment to delivering water and wastewater infrastructure for rural Ireland.

Róisín Garvey (Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State. That is great. I look forward to getting more detail about those measures. It is interesting that funding is to be provided for wells and septic tanks. We all know that septic tanks can be handled really well or really badly. People may need a bit more education and assistance on how to operate them properly. Everybody wants to do it right. Nobody does not want to. I have been looking up replies and looking for specific details so I can help to get the local authorities and Irish Water on board. Community groups are waiting with shovel-ready projects and are looking for funding. I thank the Minister of State for the information.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I know he is personally very committed to this issue. This needs to be aligned with the Government's remote working strategy because it has the potential to solve many of the challenges we face. I ask that, as soon as these reports are published, they be made available. A fuller debate in the House might be facilitated at that stage.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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That is a very constructive proposal. We are certainly more than happy to have a wider debate on this issue. It would be very useful. What I have outlined this morning are the overarching objectives of Irish Water and the Government as regards front-loading funding.It might be useful to go into more detail about specific programmes and plans for smaller towns and villages, and as Senator Garvey said, particularly in relation to rural group water schemes and the management and treatment of septic tanks. I am more than happy to return to the Seanad for a broader debate, because I know it is of significant interest to this House, and particularly to rural Senators.