Paul Murphy pressures Irish Water over sewage in Dodder Valley Park
Paul Murphy addressed the Taoiseach about repeated sewage overflows in Dodder Valley Park beside Balrodery Weir and demanded immediate action. He said the overflows put residents' health and park users at risk and criticised delays by Irish Water and by Ishka Aaron (named later as Iska Aaron) in progressing from stage three to stage four.
Paul Murphy said the problem has persisted for two years, with sewage shooting out beside a residential area in Dodder Valley Park when there is heavy rainfall. He said the overflow occurred again last weekend and recalled a March 2024 reply from Ishka Aaron acknowledging environmental impact and public health risk, noting the scheme was then at stage three of four with options and costing due in Q4 2024.
Murphy described follow-ups in August 2024 and a delayed response in February this year, more than six months after the promised commencement of stage four. He said Irish Water apologised for the delay, stated it was concluding stage three and moving into stage four, and that he had followed up again — but that continued delays are unacceptable.
The Taoiseach responded by referring the Balrodery Estate issue to Irish Water and emphasised that the government has allocated resources through the National Development Plan and provided multi-annual funding. The Taoiseach said multi-year funding for the next five years should allow Irish Water to plan and deliver upgrades to cope with population growth and pressure on water services.
The Taoiseach warned that many wastewater and supply projects are snarled up in planning processes by objections and the prospect of judicial review, which leads officials to be exhaustive in preparation and slows delivery. He cited public representatives sometimes seeking judicial review of regulations, and used apartment guidelines as a recent example of delays caused by legal challenges.
Murphy insisted that Ishka Aaron / Iska Aaron must act and called the continuing risk to residents and park users unacceptable. The Taoiseach said the government is determined to deal with planning delays and push projects forward, while noting the broader challenge of balancing project delivery with the anticipation of objections and court challenges.
Issue raised
Paul Murphy said the problem has persisted for two years, with sewage shooting out beside a residential area in Dodder Valley Park when there is heavy rainfall. He said the overflow occurred again last weekend and recalled a March 2024 reply from Ishka Aaron acknowledging environmental impact and public health risk, noting the scheme was then at stage three of four with options and costing due in Q4 2024.
Timeline of correspondence
Murphy described follow-ups in August 2024 and a delayed response in February this year, more than six months after the promised commencement of stage four. He said Irish Water apologised for the delay, stated it was concluding stage three and moving into stage four, and that he had followed up again — but that continued delays are unacceptable.
Government response and funding
The Taoiseach responded by referring the Balrodery Estate issue to Irish Water and emphasised that the government has allocated resources through the National Development Plan and provided multi-annual funding. The Taoiseach said multi-year funding for the next five years should allow Irish Water to plan and deliver upgrades to cope with population growth and pressure on water services.
Planning, objections and judicial review
The Taoiseach warned that many wastewater and supply projects are snarled up in planning processes by objections and the prospect of judicial review, which leads officials to be exhaustive in preparation and slows delivery. He cited public representatives sometimes seeking judicial review of regulations, and used apartment guidelines as a recent example of delays caused by legal challenges.
Demands and next steps
Murphy insisted that Ishka Aaron / Iska Aaron must act and called the continuing risk to residents and park users unacceptable. The Taoiseach said the government is determined to deal with planning delays and push projects forward, while noting the broader challenge of balancing project delivery with the anticipation of objections and court challenges.
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Transcript
Taoiseach, two years ago I raised with you a repeated problem of sewage overflowing in Dodder Valley Park beside Balrodery Weir. When you have heavy rainfall the sewage shoots out beside a residential area in a beautiful park. It is still happening. It happened again last weekend with the heavy rainfall. In March of 2024 I got a reply from Ishka Aaron accepting that it was impacting the environment and posing a risk to public health through flooding. At that stage they said they were at stage three of a four-stage process and that they would have options and costing in the issue of Q4 in 2024. I followed up in August of 2024 but I got a response in February of this year, over six months after the promised commencement of stage four. Then they apologised for the delay and said they are concluding stage three and moving into stage four. I followed up again with them. It is simply unacceptable that the health of residents and park users is put at risk and the deadlines for action keep getting delayed. Do you agree with Irish Water? Iska Aaron must act. The Deputy Murphy raised the issue of Balrodery Estate in terms of sewage overflow and again I would talk to Irish Water in respect of where that is. We now have allocated unprecedented resources to Irish Water as a result of the National Development Plan and we have given them multi-annual funding. They know what their funding is for the next five years which should enable them to get on and to plan and to do things. There's a lot of work, our population is growing exponentially and has grown in the last two decades. That's creating pressure on water services. I think what would be important as well is that those who reference correctly wastewater treatment plants, we've got to try and create a narrative and a consensus in society not to be objecting to wastewater treatment plants you know or to the upgrade of wastewater treatment plants or to supply projects because an awful lot of these projects are getting snarled up in planning and have been delayed for far too long and what's happening in the preparation of the scheme so you say stage three to stage four everybody's dotting the i's and crossing the t's because they're anticipating an objection they're anticipating a judicial review and so they want to make sure that they can be resilient in the face of a court case being heard judicial review of a decision taken by the planning process and so what we're getting is a very very slow process in terms of getting projects through now we're going to have to deal with that and the government is determined to deal with it because we've got to push ahead but even in a small issue we had it this morning in leaders questions like apartment guidelines we get public representatives judicially reviewing regulation you know so and then people complain about things not moving you know we can't have it our own way everywhere but that's a general comment on on on where we are and it's important you you you you you you you you you you