Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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595. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if funding for grant aid to persons installing a zero discharge wastewater treatment system as part of a pilot scheme in County Leitrim will be provided in view of the fact that the pilot scheme will provide important research for planning and one off housing throughout rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31605/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Multi-annual Rural Water Programme was established under my Department to run for the period 2016 to 2018. It was developed through a working group of key stakeholders involving Local Authorities, the Water Services Transition Office, Irish Water, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes as well as my Department.

Under Measure 6 of the programme a grant is available to assist owners of premises connected to domestic waste water treatment systems (more commonly known as septic tanks). The grant supports the costs of repairs to, and upgrading or replacement of, such treatment systems, where the works arise directly from an inspection carried out under Part 4A of the Water Services Act 2007 (as inserted under the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012), and the subsequent issue of an Advisory Notice by the local authority. This grant scheme is not available in respect of newly constructed houses.

The terms and conditions of the grant scheme are set out in an Explanatory Memorandum which is available from Local Authorities and on my Department’s website at the following link:

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My Department is currently addressing the recommendations contained in the April 2017 report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services as they relate to the rural water sector. In this regard, in April 2018, I established a Working Group to conduct a wider review of the investment needs of rural water services. In addition to my Department, the Working Group comprises: the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Health Service Executive, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes and the County and City Management Association.

The Working Group, which has met three times to date, is considering how best to position and resource water services in rural areas so that they can contribute further to the development and long-term sustainability of a comprehensive and cohesive rural water sector that will have the capacity to produce quality outcomes comparable to those available to customers of public water services.

The terms of reference of the review provide that there will be a two-strand approach to the considerations of the Working Group. Strand 1 will consider the composition and distribution of funding for the Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme from 2019 up to 2021, while Strand 2 will consider the more complex longer-focus issues surrounding the long-term future resourcing of the rural water sector.

Having regard to the outcome of the review, and decisions to be taken on measures to be included in the programme from 2019 to 2021, applications will be invited from Local Authorities in respect of funding for that period.