Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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356. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure the State fulfils its obligations under Article 4 of the safe Drinking Water Directive; and the total amount of fines incurred for failing to comply with the directive. [4241/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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On 25 January 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Ireland failed to fully implement the Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC). The Court’s findings refer to the historical position in September 2020. Considerable progress has been made since then to the water supplies concerned in this case.

The ruling is in relation to breaches of the limit for Trihalomenthanes (THMs) in drinking water in (30) drinking water supplies. The European Commission’s case was upheld in respect of 21 Uisce Éireann water supplies and 9 private group water supplies. 18 of these 30 water supplies have already had capital upgrades completed to ensure that treatment levels are compliant with the requirements of the Drinking Water Directive. The remainder are currently undergoing capital upgrades and improvements.

My Department will now study the judgement carefully and will engage with the European Commission, Uisce Éireann and local authorities to agree a work programme to address any outstanding areas identified in this judgement. The Commission may refer Ireland back to the Court to seek the imposition of fines, if it is not satisfied with Ireland’s actions to comply with the judgement.

The European Union (Drinking Water) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No 99 of 2023) from March 2023 transpose the recast Drinking Water Directive into national legislation. Section 4 of the Regulations (General Obligations) require the water supplier to ensure drinking water is wholesome and clean, does not present a risk to human health and meets the requirements of the Regulations. The water suppliers, in conjunction with the supervisory authorities (Environmental Protection Agency and Local Authorities), are working to implement the regulations and ensure wholesome and clean drinking water.

Overall, Ireland has good drinking water quality. In its Drinking Water Quality Report for 2022, which was published in 2023, the EPA confirmed that “compliance rates are consistently high year to year” with over 99.7% of samples compliant with bacterial and chemical limits in 2022.