Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 Oct 2024

Vol. 1060 No. 4

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Medicinal Products

Deputy Neasa Hourigan

I know from our work on the health committee with the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, that he is well aware of the urgent crisis we have with drug deaths in this country. We have very high levels of injury due to the use of illicit drugs.

One of the tools in combating risk of death and injury is to use drugs such as naloxone to stabilise someone during a usage crisis or an overdose. Ireland currently regulates naloxone in a way that makes it practically very difficult for users, service providers and clinical staff to access. Other countries have started to look at the regulation of naloxone. Given that Ireland has some of the highest levels of drug deaths in the European Union, we should very much be leading the way here.

Naloxone is a medicine which rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist, which means it attaches itself to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids. That essentially means it has no opioid effect in and of itself. Somebody who has not taken an opioid could pick it up off the ground, find it and take it, and it would have absolutely no effect on them. For a person in addiction who is experiencing overdose, naloxone can quickly restore normal breathing if their breathing has slowed or stopped because of that overdose. Again, naloxone has no effect on someone who does not have opioids in their system. It is not a treatment for opioid use disorder and has no street value, but it can be used in overdose crises including heroin, fentanyl, oxycontin, hydrocodone, codeine and morphine. Naloxone can be given to any person who shows a sign of an opioid overdose, or even when an overdose is suspected. In Ireland, it is often given as a nasal spray. In cases of nitazenes, which are the new danger and the things we all fear, it increasingly seems that we need three to four doses of naloxone to combat an overdose. One can therefore understand how strong nitazenes are in that case. Often, people simply cannot access the drug in time.

At the Committee on Drugs Use in September, the huge importance of naloxone was discussed with the Irish Pharmacy Union and the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP. Both organisations were clear in their support for reviewing access to naloxone. I want to be careful not to miscategorise anything they say on the issue so I will quote what they said. The ICGP said:

At the ICGP, we fully recognise the excellent safety profile of naloxone, so we would be very supportive of removing prescription requirements.

When I asked a representative of the Irish Pharmacy Union if access to naloxone was an issue, he replied:

Correct, and that is where we would have to go back to our Irish Medicines Board, IMB, laws with regard to making the drug no longer require a prescription.

When I put it to him that we have undertaken to install defibrillators across the country - one can access them with a code on the street - he engaged with the suggestion as the kind of level of access we want.

Prior to the UK’s departure from the EU and while it was still within the European Union, England introduced a measure whereby people could walk into any pharmacy and get the drug without a prescription. Anyone could access it that way. Ideally, that is the way the product would be accessed. One would not require a prescription. Any family member, friend of somebody who is living in addiction or person working in drug services could access naloxone. I am aware that this is not just a domestic issue with regard to legislation but is also an EU issue. We would very much like to see Ireland leading the way here.

Yesterday, the Committee on Drugs Use published its interim report and it was very strong on the issue of naloxone. The Minister of State knows that the report is very much based upon the personal experience of drugs from the actual user's viewpoint. This is absolutely about saving lives. The change in the law is very small here but I would very much urge the Minister of State and the Department to act now, if possible.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Colm Burke)

I thank the Deputy and welcome the opportunity to inform the House on the current position relating to naloxone. A strategic priority in the national drugs strategy is to develop integrated care pathways and harm reduction responses for high-risk drug users, including people who are homeless, offenders, stimulant users, and injecting drug-users, in order to achieve better health outcomes and to reduce drug-induced deaths. The Health Research Board recently reported that 354 drug-induced deaths were recorded in 2021, which was 85 fewer deaths than in 2020 and represented a reduction of 19%. The reason the figures relate to 2021 is that inquests, etc., lead to a two-year delay in getting the figures. Opioids were responsible for seven in ten of these deaths in 2021 and continue to play a major role in drug poisoning deaths. I believe that these tragic deaths could have been prevented.

Reducing the risk of drug overdose requires robust public health responses, such as safer injecting facilities, more treatment services, greater access to naloxone, and better awareness about the risks and consequences of drug use. Getting more people with problematic drug use into treatment is a key step in reducing the risk of drug overdose. We are hoping to have a supervised injecting facility opened by mid-December in Merchants Quay Ireland in Dublin. The Department of Health is providing over €160 million per annum on measures to treat problematic drug use. A major component of this funding is to enhance access to and delivery of drug services in the community, through HSE addiction services, drug and alcohol task forces and community-based service providers. As a result of this additional investment, the number of cases entering drug treatment has greatly increased in recent years. In 2023, there were 13,104 cases in treatment, a 50% increase from 2017.

Naloxone is a prescription-only medication that is used as an antidote to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine, methadone and synthetic opioids if someone overdoses. The Department of Health works closely with the HSE National Naloxone Oversight Quality Assurance Group to increase awareness and accessibility of naloxone. It is important that naloxone is accessible to support workers, peers and family members. I acknowledge the group’s work and assure it of my continued support. The introduction of the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulation, SI 238 of 2023, in May 2023 allowed the HSE to approve courses for persons who may supply and administer naloxone in an emergency. In 2023, over 2,000 people participated in overdose awareness and naloxone administration training. Over 6,500 units of naloxone were supplied by the HSE to services in 2023 and already over 4,000 units had been supplied by the end of July this year. Pharmacists who have undertaken appropriate training can already administer naloxone for opioid overdoses. The HSE and the pharmacy regulator have recently taken steps to make the training more accessible for pharmacists. I am committed to expanding the naloxone programme to further mitigate the risk of drug overdose deaths linked with opioid use.

I will conclude by making a point about the figures the Deputy is referring to at European level. The figures we should very much be comparing with are in Scotland because it has the same system for accumulating and gathering the information. In Germany, for example, not all of the information is gathered and there is a view that only about one third of the cases are actually reported.

Deputy Neasa Hourigan

I thank the Minister of State for some of those facts and figures. I recognise that there has been a move by the Department to increase the access to naloxone. I would like to give the Minister of State an example of what it is like for service workers on the ground at the moment and how bizarre the current situation actually is. We have made naloxone available to workers. If I work in the drugs sector as a youth worker or in Merchants Quay Ireland, and if I know somebody who I think might go into overdose imminently and who is at a level of addiction where I believe that they have gone into overdose or will do so, I need to go to a GP and get a prescription for that person. If I then meet someone else who is in the middle of an overdose on the street in my work as a drug service worker, and decide to save their life by giving them naloxone, I must go back to the GP get a prescription for that, and get a new prescription for the other person who was to be the recipient of the original prescription.

Family members cannot get access to it at all. A person living with someone who is in addiction is desperately trying to keep their loved one alive but they cannot really access it. They can sign something to say that they - the family member - take drugs and therefore should get naloxone but they cannot access it on behalf of somebody else. This system does not lend itself to emergencies. Considering that it is a drug which has no impact on individuals who have not taken opioids, who might take it for no reason, and has effectively no street value, and all of the medical experts in the area and the service workers are telling us that they need freer access to naloxone, it should be prescription free. It seems like we should be the ones moving, as a Government, towards making that a reality. Approximately 70% of drug-related deaths are due to opioids. That is where naloxone is most effective. In general, research tells us that only four out of ten people who are experiencing overdose, die alone. That means that for six out of ten people somebody was there who could have saved their lives. We should be doing everything we can to stop drug deaths and naloxone is part of that.

Deputy Colm Burke

More than 2,000 people participated in overdose awareness and naloxone administration training in 2023. The work is ongoing in relation to having more people trained in its administration. Regarding availability, more than 6,000 units were given out last year, with 4,000 units distributed by July of this year. It is available where we believe there is a need for it. The international overdose awareness day on 30 August provided an opportunity to remember those who have died of drug overdoses and raise awareness of stigma and preventative measures. I acknowledge the grief felt by families on the death of a loved one due to drug poisoning and I welcome the reduction in the number of drug-induced deaths. I acknowledge the contribution of drugs' services to this outcome.

To reduce harm and prevent overdoses we need to encourage people to get medical help if they feel unwell or suicidal after using drugs and not to hesitate or delay because of stigma and fear. It is also important that services are available locally when needed. I am pleased that more than €4.2 million in additional funding has been secured in budget 2025 for new drug initiatives. This includes €4 million for harm reduction initiatives, including a rapid response to the threat of synthetic opioids, a waste water drugs' surveillance programme and extended opening hours for the supervised injecting facility in Dublin city centre. In order to continue to reduce deaths from overdoses, I am committed to ensuring that naloxone is accessible to services, families, emergency services and An Garda Síochána. It is important to understand that the Department and the HSE want to do everything possible to make naloxone available where there is a likelihood of a person overdosing. The Deputy raised the issue of the number of people who have died alone. The number is still extremely high, where no one can get access to them and this is something we need to work on, to ensure that people can get access to services in a timely manner.

An Garda Síochána

Deputy Alan Kelly

There was a recent meeting of councillors from the Nenagh municipal district with the new Garda superintendent. The cross-party group of councillors came out of the meeting pretty shocked because he more or less admitted that he did not have the resources in the Tipperary-Clare division to meet the requirements of the area. He was pretty matter-of-fact about it. He has to be admired for how blunt he was with the councillors. A member of the Labour Party, councillor Fiona Bonfield, was completely shocked. We have known about the issues regarding Garda presence across north Tipperary for some time. It comes up in our office every week. The bluntness with which the new superintendent admitted to not having the resources was fairly frank. There are huge recruitment and retention issues across the country for An Garda Síochána. I know of two local people who wanted to join the force and went to their local sergeant for advice. By the time they left, they were no longer interested in joining. I know of a situation in the south east where a number of gardaí just left their jobs and went to Australia. Recently, a member of the force left to join Irish Rail, for better pay and conditions, as I understand it. This issue is ongoing. If the Government does not face up to this we are in serious trouble. The issue is not just in Tipperary and Clare. Pay and conditions and the work culture are massive issues in the force.

As a division, why Tipperary-Clare was set up is bizarre because it is a logistical nightmare. Many of the gardaí are burnt out. Let us look at a scenario in Roscrea, where there were not enough gardaí. A garda went from Newport on secondment for six months to cover Roscrea. Newport to Roscrea is not a short distance but he had to go for six months. That leaves Newport short a garda. There is no marked police car in Newport. Roscrea has a 2012 Ford Focus, a community policing car. Killaloe Garda station, which is part of the same Nenagh-Killaloe area, has no marked car. We have the Garda Training College in Templemore. There is currently a position there in the actual Garda room in the college. Hundreds of gardaí have applied for the position, to get away from front-line policing. They do not want to continue given what they have to put up with. Members in the division on long-term sick leave are not being replaced because there is no one to replace them. Gardaí are being put into areas where they have no local knowledge, so there is a deficit in actual response times. Bureaucracy on small issues is taking up a lot of time. We are taking gardaí from smaller towns and bringing them to bigger towns. Community policing units and crime task-force units are great in theory but when gardaí are being taken for these from front-line policing in stations and the stations are being left vacant, what is the point? We are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

We have very few foot patrols due to the lack of police on the ground. This is a serious issue in Nenagh, Thurles, Roscrea, Newport, Templemore and everywhere else. We have a situation where, on some days of the week, there are six gardaí, two in Newport-Killaloe, two in Nenagh on outside duty and one or two in the Roscrea area. That is not sufficient. When are we all going to wake up? This is just referring to the division in my own area. Unless pay and conditions are improved and the job becomes a vocation that people want to get into we are not going to have the police force we require.

Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Deputy Joe O'Brien)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in the House. I convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who regrets she cannot be here for this matter due to another commitment.

As the Deputy will be aware, by law, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of Garda members and resources between the various Garda stations and divisions. I can assure the Deputy that the Garda Commissioner and his management team keep the distribution of Garda members and resources under constant review. This is done in light of operational needs and in close consultation with local Garda management in each division.

I can further assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities and strengthening An Garda Síochána is at the core of that. Budget 2025 provided the highest ever allocation to An Garda Síochána, with more than €2.48 billion, which is a 27% increase since 2020. This funding allows for the continued recruitment of Garda members and staff, which will in turn allow the Garda Commissioner to ensure that an effective policing service can be delivered.

To assist with recruitment, the Government increased the training allowance and increased the age of entry from 35 to 50. The Minister has also secured a significant increase in the training allowance which now means that trainees are paid €354 per week. The Government is determined that An Garda Síochána grows to 15,000 members and beyond. We are seeing growing momentum in recruitment and more and more gardaí are coming through the Garda Training College and onto our streets. Last month the Minister was delighted to witness 108 new Garda members attesting. This is the third graduation ceremony of the year, with 165 members attested in March and a further 157 in June. A new group of 135 recruits entered the college last month for their first phase of training and I wish them well.

I can inform the Deputy, as of June 2024, there are 656 gardaí assigned to the Clare-Tipperary division which is an increase of ten since 2015. As of the same date, 164 probationer gardaí have been assigned to stations within the Clare-Tipperary division since 2020. There are also 129 Garda vehicles in use in the division.

The Deputy will also be aware that enabling works have begun on a new Garda Station in Clonmel. The Department of Justice is also funding refurbishment works in Cashel and Bansha stations as well as the Garda College in Templemore. This is to ensure that all Garda personnel and communities have the fit-for-purpose facilities they deserve both now and into the future.

Deputy Alan Kelly

I thank the Minister for reading the script. It does not really address my concerns. I appreciate he is not the direct Minister but 15,000 gardaí - when are we going to get realistic? There was a report on Dublin city centre recently where they want 1,000 more gardaí. It is laughable. There are gardaí looking to retire all the time. I know of gardaí who are now looking at having a cost-neutral retirement and will sacrifice a certain percentage of their gratuity and pension to get the hell out of their job because they want to go at 50. They will not stay on any longer. It will cost them money but will probably help them in the long term from a life perspective. That is where we are at. Gardaí are leaving the force all the time. Trainee gardaí are leaving before they qualify. We had a situation last year - I saw it at the committee - where the number of gardaí coming into Templemore was manufactured because the last batch were put in just before the new year to register them for this year. This is not being taken seriously - the pay and conditions, working conditions and resources. Do the Commissioner and senior management have the backs of gardaí? I look at what is going on in Limerick and the mid-west with gardaí and I wonder why would you join. Then, I look at why so many are leaving and I see why. They are leaving because this is no longer a vocation as it was in the past. There are easier ways to make a living. The volume of hassle and the concern your family members have for you now as a garda are so deep people are not choosing it and the people with experience are leaving. The brain drain is huge and the Government is not addressing it.

Deputy Joe O'Brien

I thank the Deputy again on behalf of the Minister for raising this important matter. When I take a Topical Issue, I look at the question and try to understand what is behind the issue.

Deputy Alan Kelly

I appreciate that.

Deputy Joe O'Brien

The question was fairly broad in that related to Tipperary and Clare, which is a big area. I will take back the specific issues the Deputy mentioned around Nenagh, Roscrea and Newport and long-term sick leave. The issue around leaving stations vacant comes up in my area as well. Sometimes, the senior garda in the area says they are between a rock and a hard place. People want to see gardaí on the beat but they also want someone in the station. There is a balance needed.

On local community safety partnerships, I am sure the Deputy will agree community safety is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their communities. At the heart of this policy is the principle that every community has the right to be and feel safe in order to thrive and flourish. Our approach to community safety is a whole-of-government one. We want to bring the relevant social service providers including the Garda together with the community in a collaborative manner by focusing on the concerns identified by the local community. Local community safety partnerships are provided for in Part 3 of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 signed into law by the President in February. Each newly-established local community safety partnership will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to its work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner and addressed collectively by relevant providers in partnership with the community. The Minister recently announced the appointment of chairpersons to the first seven local community safety partnerships being established. The Minister is hopeful many communities will start to see local community safety partnership established in their areas over the coming weeks.

Wastewater Treatment

Deputy Holly Cairns

Since being elected, wastewater treatment has been a recurring issue raised by communities across Cork South-West. I am focusing on the issue of the wastewater treatment plant in Ballydehob this morning but almost every area of west Cork is feeling the pressure from crumbling water infrastructure. From an environmental and health perspective, the very least people should expect is the proper treatment of wastewater and household sewage but years of underinvestment in waster infrastructure has left communities and areas exposed to pollution. Ballydehob's wastewater treatment plant is in urgent need of an upgrade. Despite the name, it is little more than a basic septic tank. It is not fit for purpose. Over the past ten years, it has caused massive ongoing pollution problems in Ballydehob Bay, which is within the Roaringwater Bay and Islands special area of conservation. Its habitats are protected under the EU habitats directive and it has a diverse variety of marine life and seabird colonies which need to be protected. However, sewage effluent can frequently be seen in the lagoon, quay and estuary beside the village.

An upgrade to this plant has been a long time coming. In 2009, Cork County Council and the EPA concurred that the existing septic tank was not appropriate and an upgrade was needed. The project was included in the water services investment programme at an estimated cost of €683,000 and works were to be completed by October 2012. That never materialised. In 2014, responsibility for the plant was handed over to Uisce Éireann which was granted a licence by the EPA on the condition that upgrades to the plant would be completed by the end of December 2019. Emission level value tests in the area have been falling consistently for nearly ten years. It has resulted in serious observable pollution in the harbour and estuary and a stench from the plant. All of this occurs in one of the most beautiful areas around Ballydehob which is popular with locals and tourists. Overflows are a frequent issue for the site yet Uisce Éireann remains insistent that the overflows are somehow compliant with the Department's criteria despite acknowledging that overflows from the site are completely unmonitored, the number of overflows occurring is completely unknown and it has no idea what the volume of sewage discharged by the overflow is. It seems incredible that with this level of information, Uisce Éireann is willing to tick the compliance box. The reality is dirty water and raw sewage can regularly be seen flowing from the septic tank directly into the estuary even in dry weather.

It is October 2024, 15 years after the need to upgrade this plant was identified and we do not even have the beginnings of a plan. No works have been carried out despite the council having completed detailed drawings and plans for the upgrade. The proposed new plant was never built and Uisce Éireann continues to operate in flagrant breach of the terms of its licence. Despite the EPA's best efforts, there is no movement on the issue. We all understand the shortfalls in funding, however, currently, it does not even acknowledge there is an issue on the site. Residents in Ballydehob have had enough. The community council set up a petition calling for the upgrade of the site which is available to sign in the post office and in most of the other businesses in the village. Will the Minister of State ensure the upgrade of the Ballydehob wastewater treatment is included in Uisce Éireann's 2025-29 investment programme?

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

I thank the Deputy for raising this critically important issue. The supply of public water and the provision of water services in general are matters for Uisce Éireann in the first instance. Uisce Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level. The Minister has no function regarding Uisce Éireann's specific operations although I note the points the Deputy raised about the 2025-29 plan.

The Environmental Protection Agency is the environmental regulator of Uisce Éireann and is responsible for issuing and enforcing authorisations for waste discharges. However, I asked Uisce Éireann for an update on the Deputy's behalf and have been informed that the wastewater collected in the Uisce Éireann sewer network in Ballydehob receives primary treatment in the Ballydehob wastewater treatment plant before being discharged into Roaringwater Bay. Primary treatment is not sufficient under current and what will be more onerous regulations into the future. The current status of Roaringwater Bay receiving water is good and complies with water framework directive objectives but I accept the Deputy's point that it is unacceptable. I am informed by Uisce Éireann that environmental impacts on receiving waters were considered when selecting projects for inclusion in the current capital investment programme 2019-24 and the Ballydehob wastewater treatment plant was not included. However, Uisce Éireann further informs me that the Ballydehob wastewater treatment plant project is currently at early strategic assessment stage, which involves the Uisce Éireann team developing the project rationale and objectives, project outcomes, a long list of potential options and an indicative range of costs.

Following this, it will again be considered for inclusion in the next Uisce Éireann capital investment plan. I will ask that it be included in the 2025-29 plan. I understand there is to be public consultation for that plan.

The EPA has been categorical in respect of the need for Uisce Éireann to ramp up and speed up its response to issues like that in Ballydehob in sites across the country where there are raw discharges. Thankfully, it has made significant progress and there has been a significant reduction, as well as tertiary treatment, in many plants across the country. There have been decades of underinvestment. Thankfully, the Government has addressed that in terms of providing significant funding for Uisce Éireann, most recently in budget 2025.

Even as I outline this to the Deputy today, in terms of project options it could take a considerable amount of time before a detailed plan and application are developed and the plant is fully upgraded. I agree that the situation is unacceptable. It is a special area of conservation. I am familiar with the area, as a frequent visitor. It is important that projects like this are prioritised, fast-tracked and included in the next operational plan for Uisce Éireann.

As I said, there is a recast of the urban wastewater treatment directive, which will place even more onerous targets on Uisce Éireann to ramp up investment. The EPA has also said delivery needs to be moving at a much more rapid pace. I will take this issue back to Uisce Éireann and ask that it be included in the 2025-29 capital plan.

Deputy Holly Cairns

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the reply and accept that there has been an infrastructure deficit over years, which means that Uisce Éireann is playing catch-up. Issues like this are concrete and need to be addressed. In addition, this case illustrates how communities do not feel heard. The local community and the EPA have raised concerns about this plant for nearly 15 years, but nothing has been done. It is nice to hear that the Minister of State will take the necessary steps. This is affecting the local community and is causing damage to a special area of conservation.

We also need greater transparency around how projects are prioritised as funding becomes available. I mentioned that this is a problem across my constituency. In Shannonvale, near Clonakilty, there have been issues for years with a septic tank overflowing into a green space in the middle of the village. The heart of the village is now, essentially, closed off as a result. It is appalling for the local community that this issue has not been resolved. I do not understand how it has not been prioritised. We need urgent investment in infrastructure and wastewater throughout west Cork. There are housing development developments in Clonakilty, Kinsale, Dunmanway and the entire Beara Peninsula which have been stalled because of a lack of sufficient water infrastructure.

The primary treatment the Minister of State has said will happen in Ballydehob is welcome. As he said, it is not enough. I thank him for agreeing to ask Uisce Éireann to include this project in the 2025-29 investment programme. He said it takes time to assess these things. However, this issue has been well assessed going back to 2012. I do not think it needs to take a significant level of time and consultation. The plan has been in place since then but has not been acted on. I ask the Minister of State to keep us updated on any reply from Uisce Éireann. That would be greatly appreciated by the people of Ballydehob.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I will do so. While I appreciate plans have been drawn up in the past, going back ten or 15 years, as I said the standards are such now and into the future, as the recast takes place, that the directive will be in force by the end of 2025. Member states will have to have it transposed by 2030, as far as I understand. That will create quite onerous targets in terms of not just tertiary but fourth stage treatment, which is only right. That changes the parameters in terms of assessment and the development of a new plant. It has to be future-proofed in order to meet the new targets and demands under the directive.

It is critically important that Uisce Éireann moves at speed and pace with plants like Ballydehob. As the Deputy said, there have been significant challenges in west Cork. It is important that the investment takes place. We are playing catch-up; I will take another question from Deputy Connolly on the situation in Galway. These issues are being addressed and Uisce Éireann is making significant progress. We are addressing a situation of decades of underinvestment in our water and wastewater infrastructure. It is not acceptable. The Government has made significant investment. We had the 2021-25 commitments of almost €6 billion in capital investment and €4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funding. It is important.

Communities across the country and the EPA have said that we need to scale up investment and things need to happen apace. These communities are being constrained from developing or growing and receiving waters are important for our biodiversity.

Wastewater Treatment

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and taking a hands-on approach. I am afraid my praise stops at this point because we will discuss sludge.

It is very difficult to make out what is happening in Galway. We have a water treatment plan, which is good. It is working and it is fine, but there has been no upgrading of anything since 2006. I have a reply from the Minister of State setting out, I presume, a reply from Uisce Éireann. I also have a contribution to the public accounts committee, to which I will return. Somewhere, there is a serious misunderstanding or misinformation - I do not know which; I am no expert. I will try to be as clear as I can, notwithstanding that we are talking about sludge.

We have an EPA report and there is an ongoing open investigation into Uisce Éireann in Galway city. We might think progress is being made, but there cannot be balanced regional development in our city or county without infrastructure. Níl aon bhunstruchtúr ar An gCeathrú Rua. Tá an séarachas amh ag dul isteach san uisce leis na blianta. I will mention An Cheathrú Rua for the record. Things have been going straight into the water for years. The wrong site was picked. In fairness to Uisce Éireann, it inherited that from the county council, but it did not change the project and instead went ahead with it until it could not proceed any more because someone else got planning permission on the site. There was daft and blind behaviour – I take the word "blind" back. There was silly behaviour.

We will stick to Galway city. The EPA has an open investigation. In June last year, there was an outage in the Oranmore pump station and the EPA went to check it when it was reported. The EPA found 70 overflows into the water that were never reported to it. It has an open compliance investigation in place. On 70 occasions, there have been overflows. It is concerned that these overflows and discharges are things other than stormwater and so on. The duration and quantity of those overflows are not known and there is the potential for pollution.

There are pump stations in Oranmore and Merlin Park and there is a wastewater treatment plant. The collection service, including those pump stations, is not fit for purpose. Uisce Éireann has come back to the Minister of State to say, more or less, that it is dealing with these things and what has been stated is not accurate. The only application is for Merlin Park. There is nothing in respect of Oranmore.

Mr. Sean Laffey, in his evidence to the public accounts committee, stated: "The siphons under the River Corrib are not at risk of collapse. We have had them surveyed." Part of that is correct. One is not at risk of collapse, but the other is.

I have a report here from McBreen Environmental, which is well recognised. I will quote from it so that there is no risk of misunderstanding. It refers to best practice in regard to a pipe – we are making the assumption that it is one of the two siphons. Uisce Éireann had a chance to clarify that, but did not do so. I want to pay tribute to An Taisce, which has done tremendous work to get these reports. The McBreen Environmental report states that best practice suggests this pipe is at risk of collapse at any time and urgent consideration should be given to repairs to avoid total failure.

Regarding the Bearna pumping station, Uisce Éireann is telling the Minister of State it is no longer tankering and that it only tankered for a little while. It is still tankering, but now with sludge. It has been pointed out to me that Uisce Éireann does not have permission to do that. It is not fitting in with the sludge plan and none of this has been reported to the EPA.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I thank Deputy Connolly. I will read the script I have been provided and then come back in with some other responses. I wrote to Deputy Connolly last week on foot of a question on policy or legislation to the Taoiseach.

The supply of public water and provision of water services in general are matters for Uisce Éireann in the first instance. Uisce Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. The Minister has no function with regard to Uisce Éireann’s specific operations.

I have, however, made inquiries on the Deputy's behalf and have been informed by Uisce Éireann that a significant investment programme in Galway, which has led to brand new wastewater treatment plants and infrastructure in An Spidéal and Ahascragh, has resulted in the elimination of raw sewage discharges. A €13 million upgrade of the wastewater network infrastructure in Athenry was completed in 2024, reducing the risk of sewer flooding and addressing non-compliant sewer overflows into the River Clarin. Planned upgrades for Mountbellew and Eyrecourt will be progressed through the current and future investment cycles subject to approval and planning. Uisce Éireann is also progressing projects to upgrade wastewater pumping stations at Bearna, Oranmore and Merlin Park. These are currently progressing through the planning and delivery process.

With regard to the existing pipes under the estuary, Uisce Éireann has completed a survey of the siphons under the River Corrib and can confirm they are not at risk of collapse. A local structural issue was identified and this was fixed through planned capital maintenance works earlier this year. Uisce Éireann is also addressing historic defects in the sewer network in Galway. The drainage area plan for Galway developed by Uisce Éireann will drive major network refurbishment across the catchment, which includes Bearna and Oranmore.

Galway has been Ireland’s most rapidly developing urban area for over half a century and is a key driver for the west of Ireland, with a projected 40% increase of its population in the period 2022 to 2040. As a result of this growth, the wastewater infrastructure is challenged to keep pace with the increased demand for new serviced land for housing, commercial developments and industry. On Thursday 26 September, Uisce Éireann launched an eight-week public consultation on a long-term plan to ensure the adequate provision of wastewater services for Galway city and parts of Galway county. The strategy aims to support future growth of the city and region. The 50-year Galway wastewater strategy will address all wastewater treatment and network infrastructure for the Galway metropolitan, Athenry and Moycullen areas to determine what upgrades are required to meet the future needs of the population. This will take into account economic development, environmental changes and climate change.

This critical strategy will have a significant benefit for current and future generations living and working in Galway. It will set out how we envisage wastewater services and infrastructure will be provided to homes and businesses over the next 50 years. Uisce Éireann is consulting with a wide range of stakeholders to progress this comprehensive assessment of all existing infrastructure and is asking members of the public to have their say in future development and how these essential services are managed and delivered.

Deputy Connolly mentioned a second pipe under the River Corrib. It is not in my reply but we can certainly ask Uisce Éireann to investigate that. I was not aware of that pipe. The Deputy also mentioned the tankering of-----

Deputy Catherine Connolly

There are two siphons under the Corrib and we are saying one of them has been reported as defective.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I will ask Uisce Éireann to investigate that. The tankering of sewerage is unacceptable in this day and age. We have a way forward here in terms of the longer-term plan. I mentioned the 2025-29 investment cycle in my response to Deputy Cairns. That will be critically important. We took questions from Deputy Connolly last night on housing development in Galway. This issue will hinder housing development unless we have the adequate infrastructure that is future-proofed and meets the requirements of what will be a recast of the urban wastewater treatment directive. There are quite significant opportunities and challenges here and it is critically important that we get them right.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

I thank the Minister for his comments. This is of critical importance because the growth of Galway, which I believe should be done in a sustainable way, cannot happen. The population is not growing at the rate expected because of the failure to remediate defective infrastructure. I heard the Minister of State say he will go back to Irish Water. I wish him good luck because Irish Water has given many responses and has told us at the public accounts committee that what I am raising is wrong and it is telling the Minister of State that it is wrong.

For the purpose of clarity, there are two siphons under the Corrib estuary. I am no expert. I am reading a report and I am no expert on that report but the people on the ground are experts. They have given me a copy of that report, which identifies one of the siphons as in imminent danger of collapse. Surely, that would be very simple to clarify. Either this is referring to another pipe or it is not referring to the siphons; I do not know. I could quote from the report again for the Minister of State but I will not do so. The person went to the public accounts committee and said that was not true but did not use those words. He said there was nothing wrong with the siphons and that it was a local issue. There is an open investigation by the EPA on Irish Water, particularly for Oranmore, but it is all interconnected. It is interconnected with the pumping station. The only live application is an application for the pump station in Merlin Park and that went in a year or two ago. It was then withdrawn on appeal because there was not enough information and it has since been resubmitted.

We are back here now and I am trying to get as much as possible into the four minutes I have, as is the Minister of State. I welcome the time I have been allocated. The information being given by Uisce Éireann is not open and transparent, however. I want to work with Irish Water, and with any Government, if we have the privilege of coming back here, but we cannot do that without an open and honest analysis of what the defects are on the ground and the plan to repair them. If we are spending our time saying this or that is not accurate, that is not one bit helpful for transparency, trust or belief in the system.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

I have outlined the significant progress that has been made by Uisce Éireann in dealing with the deficits in Galway city and the wider area. I was not aware there were two siphons, as Deputy Connolly has said. My understanding from the response I gave the Deputy last week was that one had been addressed. We will ask Uisce Éireann.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

There are two siphons and one of them is the major one that has been highlighted.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

We will ask Uisce Éireann to come back with a more comprehensive reply on that, if that is of assistance to the Deputy. The opportunity that is there in terms of the public consultation on future needs is really important. It is important that the 2025-29 capital investment cycle identifies the needs for the growth of the greater Galway area and ensures they are included in the capital investment programme. Whatever Government is here after the next election, it is critically important that the investment cycle we have commenced and that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has committed to over the past five years in terms of Uisce Éireann and its needs continues. In fact, it needs to be ramped up significantly. I keep referring to the recast of the urban wastewater treatment directive. It will create much more onerous targets on Uisce Éireann to deliver the highest quality water and wastewater treatment.

If it is okay with the Deputy, we will try to come back with specific responses on that.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

To be helpful, could the Minister of State come back with commentary on the reports that have been carried out for Uisce Éireann, including the one I mentioned and all other recent reports it has commissioned on this issue?

Deputy Malcolm Noonan

We will request that.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 9.58 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10 a.m.

Sitting suspended at 9.58 a.m. and resumed at 10 a.m.