Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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112. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on the actions his Department, or organisations and agencies related to his Department, are taking with respect to the recommendations of Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate and the Environment report on Lady’s Island Lake; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65854/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to Lady’s Island Lake, my colleague, Minister of State, Christopher O’Sullivan has met with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Wexford County Council and Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) along with the National Parks and Wildlife (NPWS) and the Water Division within my Department. From this engagement an oversight group for Lady’s Island has been established. This group has met on multiple occasions and is being led and chaired by Wexford County Council.

Wexford County Council is currently preparing a specific action plan to deal with the pollution at the lake, which will follow the framework and mechanisms established within the 2024 Water Action Plan.

Lady’s Island Lake is a Priority Area for Action (PAA) under the existing 2024 Water Action Plan and therefore all mechanisms for undertaking scientific and compliance investigations, delivery of advice and implementing regulatory and supplementary measures under the Water Action Plan will be harnessed. A holistic approach to dealing with the sources of nutrients entering the lake, from agriculture, domestic waste water treatment plants (septic tanks) and urban waste water treatment plant(s), by all implementing bodies is vital. This will involve very close engagement between Wexford County Council, LAWPRO, the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory (ASSAP) and the Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership (EIP) programme.