Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Rural Water Programme, through Exchequer funding, delivers improvements to private domestic water services in rural areas where there are no public (Uisce Éireann) water services. It provides operational and management subsidies for the group water sector and also provides capital investment in the wider rural water sector.

The Multi-annual Rural Water Programme provides capital funding aimed at improving the quality, reliability and efficiency of rural water services infrastructure. It continues to build on the success and achievements of previous programmes. The bulk of the funding is aimed at improving the water quality in group water schemes. I can confirm that I plan to publish the framework for the new Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme 2024-2026 in the coming weeks.

My Department also provides a grant which assists households with the costs incurred in providing a supply of water for domestic purposes or rectifying serious deficiencies with an existing supply. A review of this grant is currently underway and I expect to receive recommendations for my consideration and approval by the end of 2023.

I have also recently announced improvements to the Domestic Waste Water Treatment System Grants, which will encourage more householders to avail of the grant and consequently help reduce the environmental risk from defective systems. These changes will come into effect from 1 January 2024.