Michael Fitzmaurice warns water infrastructure threatens housing plan

You have spoken about building 300,000 houses over the next few years and I wish you luck on that. The facts are at the moment that 85 per cent of the towns of Ireland do not have capacity for giving extra water to Newhausen. We know that the budget that Irish Water are working on at the moment and on the 10-year plan is for bringing it up to spec for EU regulation and based on approximately 30,000 houses per year. We know that in relation to Ring's End in Dublin, capacity in sewerage, it is over capacity. So what happens in over capacity, you open the Schlussfeld and away with it. What is happening in Mutton Island and Galway, the same thing. What is happening with quality of water in Cork, major, major problems. This is in light when you look at the likes of the Dublin Wastewater Plant got approval. It started in 2015, in 2019 it got approval. It is in the course since. It has not moved. Major problem. In light of the Ballymore-Hustis pipeline that is 50 years on the go, six leaks on it at the moment, 40 per cent of Dublin's water is coming into it and could, to be quite frank about it, and it is not my words, it is actually the Chair of Irish Water, but it is actually true that that pipe could boost any time and then there would be pandemonium. You have to look at the Shannon Pipeline that is proposed that basically is going to cost a fair few quid. At the moment, Tisha, there are 400 plants across this country in sewerage in smaller towns that need to be brought up to speck. They are saying now that that won't be possible until after 2030. I will give you the example, Irish Water said in 2022 that Ballygar and County Galway was going to get an upgrade, Mount Belia was going to get an upgrade, they were all going to do it in a bundle. Now they are looking at 2026 if they have funding. That is on sewerage. On water, Clunfad is a small village in County Riscommon and this morning for the 21st time at Lowbury Cross the pipe has busted once more. They have announced that they are doing part of it, but ironically enough if you don't do the foot, it is like having two cuts on your finger. If you put a bandage on one the blood will still come out of the other. And Tisha, I am asking you, how can you sort out the planning side of it, make sure there is enough of funding to come to what you are looking for in the line of the 300,000 houses. Because most of these infrastructural projects are ten years on the go. You have got to cut that minimum by half and I am asking you what will be done for the likes of the judicial reviews that are causing basically the big one in Dublin, what is going to be done around the country in making sure that smaller towns are looked after as well. Thank you Deputy for raising what is a key infrastructure issue in terms of facilitating the construction of thousands of houses, but also in terms of the broader economy. The existing Ishka-Irden strategic funding plan, which was from 2025 to 2029, was approved last November, and that committed over £10 billion in capital investment by Ishka-Irden in that period, and there will be further additional investment in the context of the National Development Plan. We already announced a billion allocation additional in the last budget in respect of receipts from the sale of shares in AIB, and so we are under no illusion that it will need substantive more capital investment. The water supply project was approved in principle by Government in June of last year, and that is a generational project which you referred to in terms of dealing with the deficit and lack of capacity for growth in the Eastern and Midlands region by supplying water from a hydro-power reservoir on the Shannon River. We need people to go with that, we need political representatives to go with that, because any delay in that could have very serious consequences for the Eastern and Midlands region, and the budget is extraordinarily high for that, or the spend on that. The Greater Dublin drainage project that you spoke about, the current planning application my understanding is under review, and again you have mentioned judicial review. The new planning act is meant to streamline that, we have to now implement that and commence it. That was the subject of a lot of debate in the last day, a lot of opposition in the last day, a lot of people said we were rushing it. It took four years to get from conception to conclusion in the legislature to get that act past, and on the one hand we are saying our system is too slow, and it is, in my view, in terms of both planning and in terms of the utilisation of JRs. I think collectively as a society we have to weigh up that which is important for all of us collectively. Water supply is one of that. What we are saying to Irish Water, there will be further investment, but parallel with compliance obligations, there has to be increased capacity for housing, and we also, I believe, we have to look at the options of working with the private sector, in terms of water supply, and in terms of waste water. We have to just open and broaden perspectives in terms of how we are going to meet the enormous challenges that we are facing, on the housing front in particular, in terms of new connections, new supply capacity, and that is something that the Government is examining at the moment. The facts are of this £10 billion that is proposed, that £5 billion of that will be to comply with EU legislation to basically come in compliance with plans that are not in compliance at the moment. Also, there is £3 billion of that towards the Shannon project. What you are saying then is that you have £2 billion over five years to produce 30,000 houses more every year. To be quite frank about it, whoever has done those figures, and I know it is not you, will have the bull's clue of what is going on in this country when you are trying to supply water and supply sewerage for the projects in question. Last year, and here are the facts, the subcontractors that are in with Irish Water doing repair and leaks and doing maintenance. In August, the budget was gone. 500 subcontractor people out working were laid off last August. I predict they were laid off because their budgets had blown in what they were going to do. So from August in until Christmas, whatever leaks or whatever appears, tough look, we have got to leave it to next year. And the same will happen this year with the way they are doing their budgets. In my opinion, I would ask you as Tisha to look at, when you are talking about 30,000 extra houses on top of the 30,000, to look at the figures they are given. And when you look at the Shannon project, that is a once in a lifetime. It should be a separate budget completely compared with all the other budgets, because it is once in a lifetime for Irish Water. I think you have made a number of fair points there, and in the context of the National Development Plan, we will look at some of those issues in terms of, first of all, the need for additional capital funding for water, because that is key, in my view, for housing, and it is key for economic development, particularly now in the context of the trade war that is potentially on our doorstep, we need to be very nimble in ensuring that we can respond to the needs of industry, our own industries and those who may wish to invest in Ireland. We have always been very, very strong historically on utilities, water availability, connections to the grid, and so those two areas of investment in the grid and investment in water are going to be critical in terms of the economic development of the country into the future, and I will take on board the suggestions you have made, and we will engage with our Iska here in respect of this. Thank you, Tisha.