Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 October 2021
455. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of developments to address water and wastewater infrastructural deficits facing rural towns and villages, such as Broadford, County Clare (details supplied). [50632/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department builds its strategic water policy and infrastructure delivery programmes around the National Planning Framework 2018-2040 and the National Development Plan 2021-2030. Investment is primarily delivered through Irish Water while my Department operates the Rural Water Programme directly.
As part of Budget 2022, I secured funding of over €1.57 billion to support water services and this includes over €1.4 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and waste water services, support improved water supplies right across Ireland, including rural Ireland, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area.
The Programme for Government supports the uptake of Irish Water's Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme 2020-2024, which will provide water and waste water growth capacity in smaller settlements that would otherwise not be provided for in Irish Water's capital investment plan. I understand from Irish Water that an allocation of almost €100 million for this programme was approved by the CRU. Irish Water is working with local authorities across the country in ensuring the investment supports the growth of identified settlements where these are prioritised in line with the local authority development plans.
My Department provides funding, through the Rural Water Programme, to deliver improvements to private water services in areas of rural Ireland where there is no access to public infrastructure. The strategic objective of the Rural Water Programme is to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of water services for rural dwellers in these areas. Private water services in Ireland include:
- Individual water supplies, typically a bored well.
- Group Water Schemes.
- Domestic waste water treatment systems, typically septic tanks.
- Collection networks, typically developer provided water services infrastructure.
Complementary to Irish Water's Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme 2020-2024, my Department is currently examining waste water requirements in the context of villages and similar settlements that do not have access to public waste water infrastructure.
I have instructed the relevant officials in my Department to prepare a report on this topic at a national level. This report will include the analysis of a baseline survey of all rural local authorities, to quantify and qualify the number of villages and similar settlements concerned.
At this stage, my Department reports some high level analysis of the survey results. These indicate that some 643 villages and similar settlements, spread across 25 rural local authorities, do not have access to public waste water collection and treatment infrastructure. However, it is important to note that this is point in time data which is continuously adjusting and requiring update.
This process is at an advanced stage, and I will be in a position to consider the matter once I have received the final report.
