Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2017
13. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if funding in addition to the NTICI measure 2 funds already committed to will be provided to Cork County Council in order to advance the Crossbarry sewerage scheme. [33119/17]
View answerI congratulate the Minister and wish him every success with the position.
This time last year, when the taking in charge initiative announced €180,000 funding for Crossbarry, there was a very real expectation that works would get under way and that the issue with the sewerage plant would be address. The situation in Cluain na Croise, Crossbarry, is replicated right across the country. There is a new estate with a treatment plant and the developer is gone. It needs to be upgraded as it is causing difficulty for residents. The idea of the pilot programme was that a solution would be put in place for Crossbarry but also that lessons would be learned for the future for many other estates around the country.
The national taking in charge initiative, NTICI, for residential estates was launched in April 2016 to support and accelerate overall national action on the taking-in-charge process for housing estates, including estates with developer provided water services infrastructure. A specific focus of the initiative was to expedite progress by local authorities and relevant stakeholders, including Irish Water, in addressing a build-up of pending cases relating to housing developments not yet taken in charge.
Cork County Council was allocated funding under measure 2 of the initiative in relation to a number of proposed schemes to resolve developer provided water services infrastructure, including €90,000 towards estates in Crossbarry in County Cork.
A report on the 2016 NTICI programme is currently being finalised by my Department and it is intended to publish the report shortly. The report will include findings and recommendations on sustaining progress on the taking-in-charge issue, including in respect of the resolution of developer provided water services infrastructure in housing estates such as those in Crossbarry village.
When the funds were allocated the expectation was that works would be carried out on the ground. A year on that has not happened, and we understand that the cost is now estimated to be much greater than what was originally thought and that further funding is going to be needed for it. When the initiative was put in place the idea was that the pilot scheme would inform an ongoing, year on year multi-annual programme. That needs to start providing funding now for the likes of Crossbarry, because the works have not been done, the sewers continue to block and residents are left in a distressed situation. This situation is replicated right across the country in many other housing estates. Will there now be additional funding for the multi-annual programme that was envisaged when this pilot was put in place last year?
The report is being finalised at the moment with recommendations about sustaining progress on the taking in charge issue, and Crossbarry will be included in that. In late 2015, there was a national survey of housing developments that were not taken in charge which indicated that there were 5,655 completed housing developments nationally which were not taken in charge by local authorities, and we are all familiar with different examples across the country of estates that were unfinished. This lead to the launch of the national taking in charge initiative, which was a pilot scheme funded to the tune of €10 million of taxpayer's money. Seven local authorities were chosen for the pilot scheme, including Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Tipperary and Wexford. In total, 68 developments were submitted by the seven local authorities, and funding was provided for 44 of them initially. There were three steps involved. Some €5.5 million was provided for housing estates not containing developer-provided water services infrastructure. Another €3.5 million was made available for measure 2, which applied to similar estates, and €1 million was provided for measure 3, for technical assistance to advance knowledge for the delivery of the taking in charge process.
I will find out where Crossbarry stands. The Department is of the view that works are progressing. That might well mean that the works are at a planning stage rather than actual work on the ground, but if I discover further information I will pass it on to the Deputy.
When those funds were allocated for the taking in charge initiative last year, there were several counties involved. Each of those have taken up their allocation and carried out physical works on the ground. Cork County Council and Crossbarry is the only one, I understand, which has not gone ahead with a build. Survey work was done and reports were presented on it, but aside from the surveys no physical work on the plant has taken place. That is where the focus needs to be. The plant needs to be upgraded to ensure the residents in Crossbarry have a reasonable quality of life and that they will not have trouble with blocked sewers.
Is the Minister of State in a position to put in place that multi-annual programme that was originally envisaged as part of the original taking in charge initiative? Will it be in place over the next couple of months so that Crossbarry and many other estates like it will be able to benefit from it?
We are going to wait to see the report on how the pilot programmes worked first. It is estimated that the number of housing developments that are unfinished and not taken in charge with water services issues will mean a total cost of €300 million. That is a considerable amount of money and will have to be found somewhere to complete some of the sewerage schemes such as Crossbarry. The Department is clear that some works have taken place, and once the report on the review of progress is submitted, the case of Crossbarry will be pursued further to make sure that money is actually spent on the ground.
