Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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710. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of social houses in County Kerry that have lead pipes which have been identified as in need of replacement. [40587/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Lead in drinking water is both the responsibility of water suppliers and property owners. Irish Water is responsible for lead pipework in the public water distribution network. This is known as public-side lead. Lead plumbing in buildings and within property boundaries is a matter for the property owner. This is known as private-side lead.

While there are no lead water mains in Ireland, service connections within properties can contain traces of lead. The vast majority of lead pipes are contained within properties built up to and including the 1970s.   

The Government published a National Strategy to Reduce Exposure to Lead in Drinking Water in June 2015. In response to the recommendations of this strategy, Irish Water prepared a detailed Lead in Drinking Water Mitigation Plan to identify measures to mitigate the risks to human health posed by the presence of lead in drinking water. The Plan proposes to remove all public lead service connection pipes over a ten year programme (i.e. by the end of 2026).

The Lead Mitigation Advisory Group, which is chaired by officials from my Department, meets regularly to consider and make recommendations on the broader Irish Water Lead Mitigation Strategy, and to consider appropriate guidelines and criteria for Irish Water’s decision-making process for lead mitigation measures. The most recent of these meetings took place on 9th June 2021.

There are approximately 140,000 local authority social housing properties in the State.  It is important that local authorities ensure the optimum management and maintenance of this valuable State asset, that the homes comply with relevant standards, and that vacancy and letting turnaround times are kept to a minimum. My Department is committed to supporting local authorities in the optimum management and maintenance of their housing stock and is working with them to transition from a largely response based approach to a strategic planned maintenance approach based on stock condition surveys.

A national standardised stock condition survey template has been agreed, as has the implementation of a centrally hosted ICT system to support asset management.  The ICT system is currently being procured by the Local Government Management Agency. The stock condition surveys will begin once the ICT system is in place, and will be completed over a four to five year period. The start has been delayed somewhat during Covid restrictions and it is likely to be 2022 when surveys commence.

Once completed, it is anticipated that this survey will quantify the number of local authority housing stock that may have lead pipes.