Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 16 Feb 2022

Vol. 1018 No. 2

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Ambulance Service

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

I have raised the need for a proper ambulance base for Carlow several times before. I understand Covid has been difficult for everyone. I have asked the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to come down to Carlow and I am also asking the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to come to Carlow to meet the staff and see the conditions that they are in. I was fortunate last summer because the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, was in Carlow and visited the base. I also had a virtual meeting with An Taoiseach recently to highlight just how serious the situation is.

I will give a little bit of the background. My understanding is the HSE is committed to a parcel of land called Kelvin Grove for the National Ambulance Service, NAS, to get a design 2 ambulance base. However, the money is not committed and I seek an update on that. I am committed to resolving what is a very serious issue in Carlow. I have worn a path to the Taoiseach's door and, of course, to the Minister's door, as I will do with the Minister of State as well. It is important that we keep communicating and get an update on this serious issue.

It is important to recognise these paramedics who are doing a great job in Carlow. The base is in a prefabricated structure which is part of a building that was a delivery unit in St. Dympna's Hospital. There are no training facilities there and their store is adjacent to a methadone clinic. The staff are professionals and deserve to be treated as such. I believe that if it were a private facility, it would be shut down today. I understand that there are some legacy issues and this has been going on for a few years. However, we saw that there was an extra €10 million in the budget. Yet, there seems to be a slowness in capital projects. The site should be moved on more quickly because it is HSE land.

When I originally brought this up a few years ago, the talk from the different Departments was that there was going to be an extension onto a building where the prefabricated structure that serves as the paramedic base is located at St. Dympna's. We have a beautiful building there and it is all stone. It is called St. Dympna's Hospital and we always call it that. While there was to be a build-on there, in the past few years we got word that the plan had changed and the paramedics were going to get a new base on the Kelvin Grove site. It right across the road, by the way, so it is very well situated.

I would like a full commitment to know that there will be a new base on the Kelvin Grove site. There have been huge issues of confusion around if it will be a build on the site they are on at present or if it will be at Kelvin Grove. It is important that we get that decided.

I raise another issue. As the base is well situated in the centre of town, there often will be ambulances outside when people pass by. However, if someone rings for an ambulance, they cannot get one because the ambulance paramedics have perhaps been moved to a different part of the country because, as the Minister of State knows, the system has changed. I will bring that up in my next slot.

There are huge issues. The lack of communication with the Department and even to myself, the ambulance paramedics and the people of Carlow is an issue. We need to have a base that is fit for purpose. Our ambulance paramedics deserve a proper ambulance base. It is only right that we now get that funding and a new base.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Frankie Feighan)

I thank Deputy Murnane O’Connor for raising the issue of replacing the current ambulance base, which is located at the Carlow health services complex at St. Dympna’s Hospital, Carlow town.

The National Ambulance Service is the statutory pre-hospital emergency and intermediate care provider for the State and it seeks to serve the needs of patients and the public as part of an integrated health system, through the provision of high quality, safe and patient-centred services. Carlow ambulance base is an integral part of the ambulance service and has two emergency ambulances on duty at any one time. The base is supported by NAS resources from surrounding ambulance stations, including Baltinglass, Athy, Kilkenny, Portlaoise and Enniscorthy. Dynamic deployment of available resources operates on an area and national basis, rather than a county or geographical boundary basis, to ensure optimum resource use as the nearest appropriate resource is mobilised to the location of the incident. The priority of dynamic deployment is patient health and welfare in the context of service delivery, which means that resources cannot be confined by county boundaries, barriers or borders.

The National Ambulance Service operates a comprehensive safety management system across all of its premises across the south and continues to work collaboratively with staff and HSE estates and external providers to ensure that any concerns or issues that occur are dealt with as quickly as possible. Given the work entailed and the timeline to move from identification and assessment of a suitable alternative site to the completion of works and building handover, remedial and refurbishment works at the existing station have been carried out to address shortcomings in relation to health and safety requirements. Remedial works to the value of approximately €50,000 were carried out at Carlow ambulance base in 2020. These works addressed requirements to ensure the ambulance base was a safe place of work and included a list of maintenance-type work to doors, walls, floor covering and minor leaks, with full certification of electrical and fire safety systems.

In 2021 the National Ambulance Service completed a detailed prioritisation assessment for all ambulance stations across the country. The NAS is working with the HSE in planning a future replacement for the current facility.

The HSE has identified Kelvin Grove as a possible suitable site and is currently procuring a design team for another project on the Kelvin Grove site. The design team will prepare a development control plan for the site to include two other facilities including the proposed ambulance base. When this site appraisal is completed, the HSE will be in a position to develop a capital submission for a new ambulance base. Capital funding for the project will be determined in accordance with the overall prioritisation planning for all ambulance stations that require replacement, major refurbishment or expansion. I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor for raising this issue. She has been to the forefront in raising the ambulance service in her region. I look forward to trying to get her a satisfactory reply.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

I am disappointed with the Minister of State's reply. In regard to ambulance services, the people of Carlow have had delays in their ambulance services because as the Minister of State is aware, all ambulance calls are now managed through the central ambulance and emergency operations centre, which is supposed to ensure that the most urgent calls get the highest priority response, regardless of the location of the ambulance vehicles or bases. That is a problem as Carlow does not have an emergency response support because our local hospital is in Kilkenny. We do not have a fit-for-purpose building. There are issues within the ambulance services. We need more ambulances, or we need the two that are based there not to actually leave the county. There is absolutely no commitment in the Minister of State's reply other than saying that the HSE is looking at a site in Kelvin Grove and that it is possible that it could happen. This is unacceptable. This is going on for years. We have ambulance paramedics in Carlow in a prefab, in 2022. I am raging. This needs to be sorted as urgently as possible. My understanding is that a list is being done on ambulance bases, seemingly numbered one to ten, on which Carlow is number two on the list. That is not good enough. I ask the Minister of State to go to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, as I will. I will be going to the Taoiseach. I want a firm commitment from the National Ambulance Service, the HSE and the Minister that we are going to get the build in Kelvin Grove. There is another building going on Kelvin Grove, that is right. My understanding is that it is at design stage at the moment but we need to get this building. It is unacceptable that in 2022 we have the best of ambulance paramedics in Carlow and they are in a prefab. It is unacceptable. I am disappointed in the Minister of State's reply.

Deputy Frankie Feighan

I thank Deputy Murnane O’Connor again for raising the issue of the provision of the ambulance base located in Carlow town. A significant programme of work is under way to transform the National Ambulance Service from an emergency medical service into a mobile medical service. As I said, this is a model which aims to treat patients at the lowest appropriate level of acuity, resulting in a better experience for the patient and more efficient use of resources. Carlow ambulance base is an integral part of the National Ambulance Service. Carlow has a maximum of two emergency ambulances on duty at any one time in a 24-7 period. These are supported by National Ambulance Service resources from surrounding ambulance stations including Baltinglass, Athy, Kilkenny, Portlaoise and Enniscorthy. The Deputy is correct that the National Ambulance Service is completing a detailed prioritisation assessment for all ambulance stations. The National Ambulance Service is currently working with HSE estates in planning a future replacement for the current facility in Carlow. Engagement is continuing between the National Ambulance Service and HSE estates in progressing the assessment of options and then preparation of a capital submission for a replacement base. Capital funding for the project will follow in accordance with overall prioritisation planning. I will bring the Deputy's concerns to the Minister. I thank her for raising this very important issue as a Topical Issue matter today.

Protected Disclosures

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

It is great we are talking about protected disclosures again. Indeed it is a very topical issue. We have seen reports recently in the Irish Examiner in regard to reported problems in the Matt Talbot Adolescent Services, MTAS, in Cork. It reported that the HSE commissioned a major review of the operations on foot of a number of protected disclosures. From that it is my understanding that the review was conducted by two external social care consultants but that their final report was not published. Some concerns were that it could have been too damning. One of the issues arising out of this which I am interested in with regard to the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill was that one of the women who reportedly made that protected disclosure had been made redundant. This is something that arose out of that and about which I have been questioned. Will the Minister advise, in respect of a hearing of a person who fights and awaits a hearing before the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, or the Labour Court, whether, if the new Bill is enacted, that hearing then will take place under the new protected disclosures regime? In the case of an action submitted before the new Bill has been enacted, will the hearing be under the old law?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I thank the Minister for taking the time this morning to take these questions. It is a Cork thing this morning, for some reason. In 2019 there was a chemical explosion in a factory in Cork. It is well documented. It was documented by the Irish Examiner. A protected disclosure was lodged. Obviously there is a health and safety procedure and it went to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA. It was the first time I worked on a protected disclosure where it went all the way up to the top and came back down to say the issues were resolved. Unfortunately at the same time, 60 more complaints had gone in. It has escalated again now and those people who made the protected disclosure, those who were injured in those accidents, have now been faced with expulsion and harassment, such things as we spoke of yesterday during the debate on the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill. I approached the Tánaiste a number of weeks ago and in fairness he came back to me. Obviously the matter is within the remit of the Health and Safety Authority but I briefly explained the issue to him. This is where the crux is with our protected disclosure law at present. There is still no mechanism to see whether the reported incident has been resolved and if the people are being protected. More importantly, I have now found out through that last protected disclosure that the HSA has stated the issues have been resolved, when in fact they have not. As matters stand at the moment, is there any independent body that can carry out an investigation into the HSA? It is a very serious matter. This is not an anti-jobs or a point-scoring mission. This was the subject of a Cork City Council motion a number of years ago. The health and safety of people in the area are put at risk. I spoke to the county fire officers on this and I can say there is an ingredient being used in this factory called titanium dust. If that catches fire and goes up our fire service does not have the capability to put the fires out. These are the safety concerns that were raised during the protected disclosure and unfortunately, I reiterate, when it was originally given to the HSA in 2020, which is not too long ago, the HSA stated that all issues were resolved. Now, however, the same people are coming to me to explain that the issues have not been resolved. Some of the health and safety issues have been ignored, or not addressed properly, but the people who have been at the forefront of this making protected disclosures are being punished. How do we sort that out between management of the company, the HSA and those whistleblowers?

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Michael McGrath)

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and for their contribution to the Second Stage debate on the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill yesterday in the House. I look forward to working with them in a spirit of co-operation, as I said yesterday, on the passage of this Bill over the months ahead. Many of the issues they raised this morning are the very issues we need to tease out in considerable detail on Committee and Report Stages. We in this House can all agree on the importance of protecting whistleblowers. We all recognise fully the vital role they play in a democratic society. We are all aware of individual cases in recent years where people who have had the courage to speak up have unfortunately paid a personal price.

While the existing Act served, and continues to serve, a purpose, it is an Act of its time. It is now eight years old and we have to accept that we have learned a considerable amount from our experience of the operation of the Act over the last eight years. I reassure the Deputies that not only are we using this Bill to transpose the EU directive but that we are also seeking to go further. We are taking the opportunity presented by this Bill to improve and modernise our regime for protected disclosures and to centrally improve protections for whistleblowers.

The Bill goes much further than our existing legislation. For example, it significantly widens the range of persons entitled to protection for speaking up to include volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants. It will require many employers to establish formal channels and procedures for their workers to report concerns about wrongdoing. It requires recipients of disclosures to take highly specific steps within clear timelines to follow up on the reports they receive. Those steps are not laid out in the current Act. When enacted, the new Bill will place clear obligations on those who are receiving these protected disclosures as to the steps they must take and when those steps must be taken. Fundamentally, the Bill provides for the reversal of the burden of proof. Employers will have to prove that the alleged act of penalisation was not undertaken because the worker made a protected disclosure. That is a very significant shift in position that I believe will prove to be incredibly helpful over the period ahead. Offences relating to contraventions of the Act are also set out.

As I said, we are using this Bill to address issues that arose in the context of the operation of the existing Act. The Bill provides for the establishment of a protected disclosures commissioner, who will be the Ombudsman. The commissioner's officer will have three key roles, one of which will be to assist persons in making an external report to a prescribed person by directing them to the most appropriate prescribed person. With over 100 regulatory bodies currently designated as prescribed persons, it is not always clear to persons reporting which prescribed person they should report to. It will also receive all reports made to Ministers and transmit them to the most appropriate authority for assessment and follow-up. It will also act as a prescribed person of last resort and directly follow up on any reports where there is no prescribed person or other suitable authority competent to follow up on the matter reported.

I will now deal with two of the issues the Deputies have just raised. I read the report from the Oireachtas joint committee and we will have to carefully consider and tease out the issue of retrospective application. I am engaging with the Attorney General. I want to go as far as I possibly can to ensure the protections we are providing for in the new Bill will apply to those already in the system who have made protected disclosures. However, I need to tease that issue out on the basis of legal advice. I look forward to discussing that issue in detail. We will ensure that there is follow-through with regard to protected disclosures that are made, that there will be an end point, and that people will know where they stand at the end of the process.

Deputy Mairéad Farrell

It has been great to see everyone working very well together on this particular Bill. I look forward to seeing that continue on Committee Stage. It has been a really good example of how everyone in this House can work together. The whole issue of retrospective application will form a massive part of our debates in the committee. I understand that the Minister needs to get advice and that we will need to see how it works out. I hope it will be possible to apply the Bill retrospectively because many people have suffered greatly. I really look forward to teasing that out further and to hearing what the Minister gets back in that regard.

The reversal of the burden of proof has been a massive part of this. It will be of relief to many people in the future and to those who have previously blown the whistle to see this burden reversed. It is really fantastic.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I thank the Minister very much for his response. It is not too often we get excited in here. We usually get heated rather than excited. However, as Deputy Mairéad Farrell has said, we can work together to make the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022 the gold standard. It is about protecting people. I welcome the fact that the Minister has said he is looking at existing cases because we do not want them to get lost and not be looked after. The reversal of the burden of proof is a game changer because most of these protected disclosures were not made lightly. If I had time, I would quote from some of those I have before me but I do not. I will contact the Minister's Department and that of the Tánaiste to flag up the fact that there are ongoing issues that we do not have the opportunity to investigate. That is what frustrates me and some of these whistleblowers. Again, the HSA is independent but, if it is not doing its job, who investigates that?

Deputy Michael McGrath

I will reiterate the point I made with regard to retrospective application. In passing legislation, it is always difficult to seek to have its impact made retrospective. We will take it as far as we possibly can. We will stretch the boundaries within the legal parameters that are there. That is why I am engaging with the Attorney General. I look forward to discussing the issue with the committee. I know that many whistleblowers who have made protected disclosures are looking to this Bill with hope. They see it as an opportunity to improve the outlook for them and to improve the outcome they are likely to get from the process.

It is important to highlight to people that there are already supports there, including the Transparency International Ireland helpline. That organisation has a very useful guide on its website to support whistleblowers. As the Deputies will know, there are provisions under the existing Act for taking a case to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. Under sections 12 and 13, any person who suffers any form of penalisation other than dismissal, for example, harassment, ostracism, transfer of duties, demotion and so on, can make a complaint to the WRC. Any person who has been dismissed can bring a case under section 11 of the Act. The WRC will examine each case in detail and on its own merits and, as the Deputies will know, it can make an award of up to five times the salary of the person concerned. There are existing protections there and it is important that we make that clear to people.

I accept that issues have arisen in the context of the existing legislation and that we need to improve upon these. I look forward to working with the Deputies opposite and all other colleagues in the House in that regard. My own agenda is to modernise the system of protected disclosures in Ireland and to extend protections to those who have the courage to speak up and call out wrongdoing to the greatest extent possible and to ensure they are supported. That is my singular agenda in bringing forward this Bill. I know that aim is shared by the Deputies opposite. I will work with them in a spirit of co-operation to make this Bill the best it can be.

Climate Change Policy

Deputy Brian Leddin

We are here today not just to talk about the Salthill cycleway. The decision in Galway on Monday night is the catalyst for a discussion on how we can achieve our climate ambitions. We are here to talk about a fundamental challenge we face. In the past 18 months, I have been privileged to chair the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action. We shepherded generational legislation through the Dáil and Seanad and wrote reports on the pertinent challenges associated with climate change and climate action. I am proud of my colleagues on the committee. They have worked tirelessly towards our common goal and continue to do so. While we do not always agree on the approach or on the detail, the fundamental strand running through the work of all members is their seriousness about the challenge we face. Across all political persuasions, week in and week out, my colleagues have done their very best. I can ask no more of them.

I have been concerned for some time that the conversations that have been taking place in our committee have not echoed across our society and that our ambition is not reflected by decision-makers in local government. The decision of Galway City Council on Monday night shows this to be true. It was with great disappointment that I learned the news that the council had opted not to install a trial cycle lane in Salthill, citing a myriad of dubious excuses which, to my mind, amounted to a simple reluctance to remove on-street car parking.

We can talk all we like about the need for climate action and for ambitious targets, and these are very important conversations, but not enough conversations are taking place about the measures that will be required to achieve those targets. It is clear that not enough people are on board with the kinds of measures that will be required. The proposed Salthill cycle lane was a small project, and seemingly a simple one. It was a trial of a temporary cycle lane that could be improved and evaluated. It was to be just a step towards creating a full network of safe cycleways in Galway, just as will be done in every town and city in Ireland in order that people will be able to choose to cycle rather than to drive.

Nearly 40% of transport emissions in Ireland are caused by cars driving short journeys. Many of these journeys could very easily be done by walking or by bike if it was safe and attractive to do so. It is, however, neither safe nor attractive, and people drive these short distances because we have not provided these networks. Most, if not all, of our towns and cities are a car-clogged mess. The more people who drive, the more difficult it is to put in the infrastructure and to make walking and cycling safe. It is a vicious circle that we must and can break. This means taking decisions that amount to change, and which would reallocate road space away from cars. Many of the people who are stuck in cars now will be the cyclists of the future. They are the kids being driven to school, the elderly going to a medical appointment, the person going to get the groceries, the mass goers, the commuters and those going to socialise in town. We have seen elsewhere in Ireland that this transition from car dependency can happen, whether it is in Dublin, in Dún Laoghaire, or in my home city of Limerick. We can point to brave decisions taken by councils that have led to it being safe for people to choose walking and cycling. Unfortunately, these are the exception rather than the rule. We must take a very serious look at the role of local government in delivering this kind of urgent climate action.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Thomas Byrne)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I apologise that the Minister is unable to be here himself and he has asked me to respond to this matter. I listened with great interest to what the Deputy said about the situation in Galway. While I am a very strong supporter of more cycle lanes everywhere I cannot, on behalf of the Government, intervene in that particular discussion here in the Dáil Chamber.

The discussion proposed for the Topical Issues matter is the role of local authorities in the delivery of climate action. Local authorities will continue to play an increasingly important role in meeting our climate obligations. In 2018 the Department established four climate action regional offices, CAROs, around the country to drive climate action at a local level. These CAROs have already played a key role in supporting the national climate policy, through co-ordinating the development of local adaptation strategies, through developing the role of the local authority sector in supporting the implementation of climate mitigation policy, as well as through community engagement and contributing to the national dialogue on climate action.

Climate action is a relatively new challenge for the local authority sector and will require new skill sets and capacities to be developed within each local authority over time. In recognition of this, the Department is funding a local authority climate action training programme. More than 9,000 local authority staff received training in 2021 under this programme. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 enshrines the national climate objective to pursue and achieve, by no later than 2050, the transition to a climate-resilient and biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy.

Section 16 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 sets out the provisions governing the establishment and operation of local authority climate action plans and requires that "Each local authority shall prepare and make a plan relating to a period of five years (... referred to as a ‘local authority climate action plan’) which shall specify the mitigation and the adaptation measures to be adopted by the local authority." The first such plan is to be developed within 12 months of the receipt of a request from the Minister, which request shall be made not later than 18 months after the coming into operation of the Act, and in the case of each subsequent plan, not less than once in every period of five years.

The local authority climate action plans will be progressed in three phases: phase 1 is to establish the evidence base and the delivery of the national Climate Action Plan 2021; phase 2 is the development of the local authority climate action plans; and phase 3 is the implementation of the local authority climate action plan.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 identified nearly 90 actions with dedicated time frames for delivery and reporting in 2021 for which local authorities have direct responsibility or are key stakeholders in their delivery. These actions are currently being developed through local authorities and will be reported on through the monitoring of the Climate Action Plan 2021. Each local authority will be responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from across its own assets and infrastructure, while also taking on a broader role of influencing and facilitating others to meet their own targets. They are entrusted to work through their regulatory and strategic functions to operationalise the ambitious national climate targets and policy at local levels, to help in the delivery of the national climate objective.

The local authority climate action plan is a key instrument that will strengthen the links between national and international climate policy and the delivery of effective climate action at local and community levels. This will be an important measure to ensure the environmental, social and economic benefits that come with climate action are fully realised.

Deputy Brian Leddin

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the Minister of State's comments on the climate action regional offices. I must add, however, that climate action is urgent and there are projects in the pipeline now, such as the one in Salthill, that amount to climate action and which we need to take very seriously.

We have a national policy that prioritises sustainable transport and mobility over private car traffic. Yet, in Galway, we see local elected representatives actively campaigning against national policy and actively campaigning against their own party policies, as well as an executive that is unwilling to ensure that they meet their responsibilities.

In June 2020, the programme for Government allocated €360 million to active travel, which is a ring-fenced fund. How many kilometres and how much of a cycling network has been built by Galway City Council? The answer is "Nothing". The council, which for decades extolled the virtues of a ring road to alleviate congestion, was given funds to develop a proven solution to congestion but did nothing.

Our local government structures have been undermined for years, with a highly centralised power structure. The forthcoming directly elected mayor for Limerick will be a welcome step, as is the upcoming citizens' assembly to consider a directly elected mayor for Dublin. In the face of the reluctance of local authorities to truly embrace our national ambition for climate action, we all, as Members of the Oireachtas, are faced with a huge communications and community engagement challenge. We need to communicate not only our ambition but also what our targets mean and the timelines in which we need to achieve them. We need to communicate that climate action is now, that difficult decisions are here before us and that they must be taken on the ground, here and now.

Deputy Thomas Byrne

I reiterate that I am not able to get involved with the discussion on Galway and the detail of what Galway City Council has done this week. I agree with the Deputy that the change required to deal with climate change can be difficult but I have yet to see people regret the change once it has been made, whether it is electric cars or more footpaths or cycle lanes or, in my own area, the banning of cars from a beach. I think people are pretty happy with that, despite it having been a difficult decision.

The development and implementation of local authority climate action plans are a statutory requirement and a fundamental mechanism to enable Ireland to deliver climate actions. Local authorities are already well positioned at the forefront of climate action in Ireland and currently play a significant role in delivering adaptation and mitigation measures at local and community levels. The phased approach taken to their development and implementation will ensure that local authorities are well placed to deliver on the actions within the climate action plan 2021, while also preparing their own actions plans.

The four climate action regional offices were established in 2018 and will play a key role across the whole local government sector. Local government, in this way, will act as a fundamental link between national policy and engaging communities and individuals across Ireland in tailoring solutions to their area, to realise our ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 in a fair and equitable manner. There is no doubt but that action on climate change is not just desirable, which it is, but is extremely urgent too.

Water Services

Deputy Colm Burke

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, for being here to deal with this matter. I am concerned about the stand-alone sewage treatment facilities that were built right across the entire country back between 2000 to 2008.

Companies then ended up in the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and no one seems to have taken responsibility for the management of these sewage treatment facilities. It came to a head in the past two weeks in Castlewhite, Whitechurch, County Cork. Forty houses have access to a sewage treatment facility in which the sewers get totally blocked up. The local authority says it has no responsibility to deal with it but Cork County Council took action and came out to resolve the problems. I have been liaising with that council since then. Technically, the council is not in charge of the scheme. Irish Water says it is not prepared to take it in charge. We have been left with a dilemma as a result.

My understanding is that there are well over 400 such facilities across the country. Ongoing work needs to be done on them. They are not up to standard and we have no policy in place in respect of them. I was sent alarming photographs in the past week showing raw sewage outside and very close to the facility I refer to, which may well contaminate local streams, etc. I ask that the matter be given priority and that a mechanism be put in place between Irish Water and the local authorities in order to ensure that there will be a proper management.

The other interesting point I do not understand concerns the new houses being built in the area. They seem to be using this treatment facility. How is this happening when no one seems to be in charge of management or maintenance? This is one example. In County Cork alone, there are more than 20 facilities affected by this dilemma. No organisation is in charge, there are no management companies in place and there are serious threats to the local environment as a result. Action needs to be taken.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Malcolm Noonan)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo. I will outline the response from the Department, but I say at the outset that the conditions the Deputy describes are unacceptable. I have seen other parts of the country where this has been the case. It is a practice which should not have taken place but did. Such cases need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

The position on resolving wastewater treatment facilities built by developers to service housing estates and estates that have not been taken in charge by the local authority is as follows. Residential estates normally receive their water services – that is disposal of wastewater and supply of drinking water – from the Irish Water network. These estates are subsequently taken in charge in the normal way by the planning authority, and Irish Water takes responsibility for the water services in these estates. A small subset of estates are not taken in charge and do not have their water services networks connected to the Irish Water network and instead rely on water services infrastructure provided by the developer. This infrastructure provided by the developer of the estate is also called stand-alone developer-provided infrastructure, DPI. They are privately owned facilities. Much of this developer-provided infrastructure, consisting of small stand-alone wastewater treatment plants which were put in place in the 1990s and early 2000s, is now at the end of or past its useful working life.

In 2019, my Department introduced the multi-annual developer-provided water services infrastructure resolution programme to provide funding for the progressive resolution of housing estates with legacy DPI issues. All DPI estates, regardless of their origins, including those in NAMA, were eligible for consideration. The focus of this first programme is on estates in towns and villages where the resolution is to connect their water services to the Irish Water network. This will enable Irish Water to take responsibility for the ongoing operation and management of the water service in the estate, once the estate is taken in charge by the planning authority.

On 21 September 2020, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, announced allocations of just over €3.36 million for 26 estates across ten counties with almost 950 households to benefit under the new programme, to enable the taking in charge of these estates. This announcement was the first tranche of funding in projects for investment under the new programme. Further investment will follow over a number of funding cycles to fully resolve DPI estates. The programme will also support a number of pilot projects where connection to the Irish Water network is not feasible in the immediate future. These pilot projects, together with a major study being undertaken by Irish Water that is due for completion in quarter 2 of 2022, will inform future policy considerations on resolving substandard developer-provided infrastructure with sustainable solutions.

Under the approvals announced by the Minister in September 2020, local authorities were asked to consider further estates requiring funding for resolution within their functional area. Arising from this process, valid bids for estates were received from a number of local authorities. My Department is awaiting a report from the expert panel tasked with evaluating the bids. The Minister expects a report from the panel in the coming weeks and a decision on funding will quickly follow.

I acknowledge the issues highlighted by the Deputy. They are unsafe for communities and need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

Deputy Colm Burke

I thank the Minister of State. My understanding is that there is now a connection from this treatment plant directly into a pumping station that pumps sewage into a facility for Irish Water, in towards Cork city. That connection is with an Irish Water sewage treatment facility but no one seems to be taking responsibility for the individual treatment facility that is servicing Castlewhite in Whitechurch.

There is the added problem that no local authority will take estates in charge where Irish Water has not taken the sewage treatment facilities in charge. There are cases of developments whose builders have gone into NAMA and there is no management company in place. These are housing estates, not apartment blocks. There is no one responsible for the management of sewage treatment. If there is any other problem in the estate, whether roads, footpaths or any issue, no one is taking it on board. When people purchased these houses, the builder paid money to the local authority in charges. There were also bonds in place and my understanding is many of the bonds in respect of these estates were never drawn down because something was not completed. That is an issue because the banks or people who provided the bonds to the builders are saying they have no legal duty to the local authority and, therefore, will not pay up on them. The receivers are not taking action either.

Those issues are still overhanging from 2008 and we need to bring a resolution in respect of estates which do not have a proper management structure for sewage treatment and there is nothing in the pipeline in relation to their being taken in charge.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

On the issue the Deputy mentioned in Castlewhite, if there is a connection to a pumping station that is an Irish Water facility, we will look into it with Irish Water. It is important. If the potential is there to resolve the issue, it should be resolved. Perhaps this scheme under our Department might be of assistance. We will look into that.

On bonds and the process of taking in charge, local authorities need to work proactively with Irish Water and any other relevant party on the outstanding wastewater infrastructural issues and the wider issues around the process of taking in charge to try to resolve those for residents and communities. That is critical.

The Department has a programme in place to assist in bringing a resolution to these issues over a number of funding cycles. This applies to all relevant developments, regardless of whether they are in NAMA or not. If the Deputy has any specific additional information in relation to developments, we will ask our officials to examine it.

Given the magnitude of the potential funding liability to sustainably resolve the situation relating to DPI estates, the Department has asked Irish Water to carry out a study to support it in developing optimum solutions for these developments. The study is scheduled to be completed by the summer and will inform future iterations of the funding programme. If there is any additional information the Deputy wants to provide to us, we commit to trying to get a resolution.