Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I rise today to seek an update on the provision for funding for the replacement of older water infrastructure in rural Ireland. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber once again. I also acknowledge the Uisce Éireann staff on the ground across the country who are doing an exceptional job in often difficult circumstances and with very limited resources. From my experience of alerting the local teams to leaks and outages across my home county of Roscommon, I have always found them extremely helpful and supportive. I would be doing them and the people of rural Roscommon and rural Ireland a disservice if I did not ask for an update and continue to do so.

First and foremost, I welcome the significant progress on Irish Water services in the past decade. Capital investment in water services has increased from €300 million in 2014 to €1.3 billion in 2024 but there is significant work that needs to be done. I note national leakage has reduced from 46% in 2018 to 37% at present and the target is 25% in leakage rates, saving 200 million litres of water by 2030. After four months as a county councillor, I raised in the chamber of Roscommon County Council the need for the infrastructure in an area from Cloonfad to Garranlahan to be looked at. We called on Irish Water to specifically look at this particular area. It related to the infrastructural network of the organisation. A letter was sent on 12 December 2024, which was proposed by me and seconded by my former colleague, Councillor Paschal Fitzmaurice in Roscommon. Following that, at the beginning of this month, Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice from my constituency raised the issue of Cloonfad, a small village in County Roscommon. On 2 April, he was alerted to the 21st water outage for the village, where a pipe had burst once more. It has been a consistent issue at Lowberry Cross, with the people in that particular area consistently having to put up with water outages.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. For Cloonfad and specifically for Lowberry Cross, we have consistently tried to put a Band-Aid solution in place where leaks in the pipes have occurred. The same issues happen consistently and repeatedly. I call on the Minister of State to do open heart surgery, so to speak, and replace the actual pipes in the area as opposed to continuing with the Band-Aid solution.

This is just one case. I am sure, with 30% leakage nationwide, that this is replicated in many other rural areas. I would like the Minister of State to address this now so that people living in this area have access to a fundamental requirement, namely, reliable water infrastructure. It is a basic requirement for domestic and business premises, no matter where they are located, but it is also a matter for public health, economic growth and regional equality.

I have numerous examples and headlines from local media over the past four years highlighting the outages that have taken place in Cloonfad and across that particular part of Roscommon. I look forward to the Minister of State's response and thank him for taking this Commencement matter. I know this is not his particular area.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Scahill for raising this issue today. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne, my colleague in the Department. I will give a general response and then address specifically the areas in Roscommon, Cloonfad and Lowberry Cross, that were raised.

I would suggest that Senator Scahill writes directly to the Minister on those particular villages and make specific reference to them. I have no doubt the Minister and the Department will revert to him.

In terms of how the Senator framed the question in terms of a plan for replacement of older water infrastructure in rural areas, at the outset I should advise that the Water Services Act 2007 sets out the arrangements in place for the delivery of water and wastewater services by Uisce Éireann. These services 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 levels. The progress of individual projects are matters for Uisce Éireann and approved through its own board and internal governance structures. The Minister has no functional relation to operational matters.

Uisce Éireann supports the Department of Rural and Community Development to deliver specific actions under the Our Rural Future policy. Its key action within Our Rural Future is to invest in infrastructure, including water and wastewater infrastructure, to support the development of rural towns and villages. The small towns and villages growth programme was established in direct response to requirements for rural support under the national planning framework and is one of a number of capital programmes under Uisce Éireann’s overall capital investment plan. This is a national programme to cater for growth in smaller towns and villages where Uisce Éireann has existing infrastructure in place. Local authorities support the programme by identifying communities in need of investment. To date, 39 projects have been confirmed to be delivered through the programme nationally and an additional 11 projects in towns and villages will also be delivered through alternative Uisce Éireann programmes.

The EPA maintains a priority action list, PAL, for areas where it deems wastewater treatment improvements are needed and a remedial action list, RAL, where it deems public water supplies are in need of corrective action. Under its programme to eliminate raw sewage discharges, up to 23 December 2023, Uisce Éireann built new wastewater infrastructure for 31 towns and villages where none existed before, ending the unacceptable discharge of raw sewage into the environment. Uisce Éireann is progressing plans to deal with both lists, reporting regularly to the EPA on progress. Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery for water services and infrastructure, from €300 million in 2014 to roughly €1.3 billion in 2024. The Uisce Éireann strategic funding plan for 2025 to 2029 sets out Uisce Éireann's multiannual strategic investment of €16.9 billion to 2029, which represents an unprecedented level of funding in our water infrastructure. Our water and wastewater infrastructure, however, requires substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring the system up to the standard required of a modern service to provide for population growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I will read out a communication I got from a hospitality business in Cloonfad on 18 April, Good Friday. The title of the communication was "Absolutely Fed Up". It said that the business was left with no option but to remain closed that afternoon due to yet another water outage in Cloonfad on one of the busiest weekends of the year, the Easter bank holiday Saturday. This, the business said, was beyond frustrating. It said it was angry and disappointed with Irish Water, that this was not the first time it had happened and it would not be the last. It asked how small businesses like it are supposed to survive under these conditions.

I will be in touch with the Minister. I tried to make contact with him last week. I have the support of my Oireachtas colleagues in the Roscommon-Galway constituency on this matter and I have had the support of the Minister of State in the past with regard to water issues, for which I thank him.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Scahill again for raising this important matter. As he stated, he will follow this up with the Minister, Deputy Browne, and his office. The Senator made specific reference to Cloonfad and Lowberry Cross. I will bring that matter to the attention of the Minister and his officials.

On a general note, I reiterate the Department's commitment to the promotion and development of rural communities in addition to the work of Uisce Éireann. More than €143 million of funding has been provided for the period 2021 to 2025 under the national development plan for non-Uisce Éireann investment in the rural water sector. The multi-annual rural water programme is a primary funding stream which provides capital funding to address the challenges faced by rural water sections in maintaining, renewing and developing their systems and networks.

The Department secured record levels of investment in water services by Uisce Éireann in the period 2021 to 2025. This was reflected in budget 2025 when it secured record funding of €2.2 billion, including €514 million of a €1 billion equity investment, for Uisce Éireann to meet the cost of delivering water services in 2025. The overall investment and the specific improvements in our public water and wastewater services support improved water supplies across Ireland, including rural Ireland, and a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine areas. This makes a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs.

Imelda Goldsboro (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the group from Salon-de-Provence in France to Ireland and hope they enjoy their trip.