The Dublin Water Supply (Long-Term Water Source) Scheme is included in my Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2013 , as a scheme to advance through planning. Dublin City Council is the lead authority for this scheme, on behalf of all of the water services authorities in the Greater Dublin Area. The Council has examined a number of options to supplement the existing sources of supply, including abstraction from the River Shannon, abstraction from the Rivers Liffey and Barrow, abstraction from groundwater and desalination. The options examined for taking water from the River Shannon included the possibility of abstraction from Lough Derg, Lough Ree, the Parteen Basin , or a combination of some of these locations.
Dublin City Council has completed a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the project and has prepared a Preliminary Report. I understand that the Council is in the process of appointing consultants to further progress the planning of the scheme, including the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment, which will, in due course, be submitted to An Bord Pleanála for consideration, in conjunction with a planning application.