Richard O'Donoghue: Calls to Dissolve Irish Water Over Failures
Richard O'Donoghue criticised Irish Water's handling of infrastructure and urged its dissolution in favour of developer-led delivery and returning water functions to local authorities. He cited a stalled local housing project of 42 houses as evidence of administrative failure and lack of accountability.
Irish Water's performance
Richard O'Donoghue described Irish Water as a "runaway train" with no accountability, claiming projects are not delivered on time or on budget. He said agencies are receiving millions, even up to a billion euros, for infrastructure yet an audit comparison with international contractors shows roughly 50% less delivery for the money spent.
Local project example
He highlighted a Palace Kenry site intended for 42 houses, saying a simple administrative update took eight weeks, 29 emails and 36 phone calls to obtain an A4 sheet with a changed date. He said Irish Water told him it needed to "do research on the plant" despite the plant having been delivered by a developer and regular storage-system monitoring being standard practice.
Proposed solution
O'Donoghue proposed dissolving Irish Water, returning water responsibilities to local authorities and adopting developer-led infrastructure delivery. He argued private contractors who use their own capital deliver on time and on budget, and that completed infrastructure could then be handed back to local authorities for maintenance.
Accountability and delivery implications
He warned that lack of accountability means mistakes are not punished and staff are merely promoted, reducing value for taxpayers and hindering housing delivery. He offered to audit current projects and advise on modifying existing plants so they can support more homes while funding for upgrades is arranged, framing his comments as practical solutions to meet housing targets.
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Thank you, that's going to call her. RPZs, for people that don't understand it, rent pressure zones. Okay, where do we go? How do we get here in the first place? We got here because of lack of infrastructure. So what have we done over the last six years, which I've been asking for our government to look at developer-led infrastructure, but what we've done is we set up Irish Water. Irish Water was set up to collect money for water, existing water products. They were set up to put in metres to collect money from people for the usage of water. Now they're a runaway train. There is no accountability. There is no project on time, on budget. So what do we do to fix it? We go to people that can deliver infrastructure. When they deliver the infrastructure, they're on time, on budget. If they don't, they're out of business. Because they're not playing with the taxpayer's money, they're playing with their own. So they have to deliver it, so they have to make a profit. And they can make a profit. But we have agencies set up that are looking from this government, millions upon millions, even up to a billion euros, for creating infrastructure. And if you audit what they're delivering, and audit them against contractors, international contractors, they are delivering 50% less than what they're delivering. So that means the Irish taxpayer that's paying money for something are not getting value. And if they make a mistake, there is no accountability, but they're moved and promoted up the ladder, rather than saying, get out, you can't do what you're doing, give me somebody that will deliver. However, in Palace Kenry, Minister, and I'd like for you to look at this, I contacted them over building 42 houses to help you meet your housing targets. On the website, it says Palace Kenry was a green flag, ready to build. We contacted Irish Water and asked them that we had a letter that was gone out of date for these 42 houses, so we could deliver for the people, through the government, I don't care who delivers it, once the houses are there, and they said, sorry, we have to do research on the plant to see. This plant was delivered by a developer that no longer is developing. The site, 42 houses, was going to be built for the local area, for the people, meet your housing target, and put roofs over people's houses. Can I tell you, Minister, how long it took to get an A4 sheet of paper with all they had to do was change the date? 29 emails, 36 phone calls, and it took eight weeks for them. They said that they had to go back and do an analysis on the system. Anyone knows that if there's a storage system, then analysis is done on a weekly basis to know how the plant is working. But it took that amount of administration to go from all the different layers, go around the house twice, and then send us an email with an A4 sheet of paper. How do you expect to get delivery on that? How do you expect to meet your targets on that? I've offered this before, and I can stand at this side of the house and criticise all day long. And I'd be justified to do it. But I'm also giving you solutions to help you meet your targets. It's one thing to stand here and criticise, but it's another thing to come back here and say, I have a solution. And the solution here is dissolve Irish water. Give the water structure back to the local authorities where we're having problems. And get the developer-led infrastructure, and then when it's done, hand it back to the local authorities to maintain us. Because Irish water cannot deliver. With the money you're giving, there is no accountability, there is no budget, and that's why we're not getting delivery. That's all I want to do. I want to help you. Send me into any of the projects that you see there at the moment that they're giving you figures for plants. And I'll give you solutions how the existing plants at the moment can be modified to keep going until you have the money to invest in them so we can actually build more houses on existing systems. And I can help you deliver your project, your time. Thank you. Thank you.
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