Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, is very welcome to the House.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | 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.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | 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.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am a bit disappointed that there was no acknowledgement of the fact that we have a problem, which we clearly do, not just in County Monaghan but throughout the country. I would be grateful if we could look at some measure to try to something about the backlog not just in Monaghan but elsewhere as well. People's lives are on hold as a result of the delay.

In regard to developer-provided infrastructure, there does not seem to be any green light. I propose the Department look at providing ring-fenced funding in order that developer-provided infrastructure could be tackled and taken in charge by Uisce Éireann. Ultimately, that needs to happen because those people are also in limbo.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The point the Senator raised regarding developer-led infrastructure is a useful one and we will relay it to Uisce Éireann. There is a separate scheme for developer-led infrastructure, but looking at trying to put a focused effort on that into the works programme for the coming years would be useful. Uisce Éireann has developed a site resolution plan with Monaghan County Council, with an Uisce Éireann contribution of €130,000 for the the Alders in Ballybay, County Monaghan, a 20-year-old estate of 23 units and approximately 720 m of foul and water main network combined. A number of initiatives are in charge or under way with Monaghan County Council and Uisce Éireann. The taking in charge team at Uisce Éireann has continued to engage with Monaghan County Council over the past two years to get all these schemes and the site resolution plans for these schemes under way and to ensure they are all resolved in a satisfactory manner.