Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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273. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to applicants being refused mortgages on houses in estates due to the fact that they cannot be taken in charge by local authorities due to the lack of an agreement between Irish Water and local authorities on the transfer of developer provided water and wastewater infrastructure; the actions he is taking to resolve this in view of the housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12231/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing estates which are not taken in charge by Planning Authorities and do not have their water services connected to the public network rely instead on treatment infrastructure - called Developer Provided Water Services Infrastructure (DPI) - which was provided by the estate developers. Housing estates with DPI are a small subset of estates nationally awaiting taking in charge by Planning Authorities.

Under Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), it is a matter for the relevant Planning Authority to take housing estates in charge.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Irish Water and local authorities addresses the arrangements necessary for taking in charge of estates provided they are connected to the public (Irish Water) network. I assume that this is the agreement that the Deputy is referring to.

My Department is supporting the progressive taking in charge of estates with DPI and is not aware of applicants being refused mortgages on houses in such estates. I secured funding of €68.5 million under the National Development Plan has for period 2021-2025 for water legacy issues in relation to lead pipe remediation and the Developer Provided Water Services Infrastructure Resolution Programme (DPI) to underpin this support.

My Department introduced a multi-annual programme to provide funding for the progressive resolution of housing estates with legacy DPI. The focus of this first tranches of funding is on estates in towns and villages where the resolution is to connect their water services to the public networks. The MoU agreement allows for this.

In September 2020, I announced the first tranche of funding under the multi-annual programme. Just over €3.36 million was made available for 26 estates across 10 counties with almost 950 households to benefit.

The Expert Panel is currently considering further bid submissions from local authorities and this, subject to my approval, will lead to a further wave of funding allocations in Q2, 2022. These projects, together with a major study being undertaken by Irish Water, will inform future policy and funding needs on resolving sub-standard developer provided water services infrastructure in the areas involved.