Mattie McGrath: Shannon abstraction '2%' claim challenged

I've got to take her in a moment. I want to also thank the people who have travelled to here last week and who have been fighting this campaign. And the interest of the community and the interest of common sense for over a decade now. I want to thank Councilor Sheami Morris and Councillor Phil Bugler, indeed Emma Kennedy who has done a massive work on this, and others, others and other people who came here last week. And the community activists. And all Newcastle citizens who are exposing the madness of this project. The proposed Eastern and Midland Water Supply Project seeks to extract over 300 to 330 million litres per day from the River Shannon at Parteen Basin and transfer it to the Dublin Eastern region. While securing water resilience for Dublin is a legitimate national objective, the current proposal raises serious legal, environmental, financial and governance issues. And none of us are anti-Dublin, but we want common sense. The project may breach international environmental laws, particularly the Water Framework Directive and the Habitats Directive. Environmental impacts have been misrepresented through the reliance on average flow statistics, making severe impacts during drought conditions. Environmental alternatives have not been properly evaluated, including leakage here in Dublin, which everybody knows and talks about it, and also groundwater development. The project externalises environmental risk to the Shannon catchment, while primarily benefiting Dublin. And that's totally discriminatory. The environmental assessment does not exclude adverse impacts on protected habitats and species under the EU law and the EU's directives to prevent those. And it's also confirmed the project exposes the state to significant legal risk, ecological damage and indeed long-term policy inconsistency, and that must be looked at as well. The 2% claim is misleading. The project documentation repeatedly states that the abstraction represents approximately 2% of the Shannon's average flow. This statistic is misleading and scientifically untrue. Ecological impacts are determined by flow conditions and not long-term averages. Evidence presented in the submission shows that during dry summer flows, the abstraction could remove 25 to 30% of available flow. And during extreme drought conditions, which we do experience pretty often in Ireland, it could remove up to 38 to 40% of available flow. This is not a marginal intervention by any landmark, and the wood has been pulled over people's eyes here. And, you know, it's just not acceptable to say it's 2% of abstraction. The breach of environmental laws is the Water Framework Directive WED. The EU law requires that Member States prevent deterioration of water bodies. However, the Shannon system is already classified as below good status. In several stretches, the application does not demonstrate with certainty that deterioration will not occur. If deterioration cannot be excluded, the project must pass the strict Article 4.7 delegation test overriding public interest, no better environment alternatives, and all mitigation measures implemented. So it's failing on those very important areas. And the Habitat Directive, we've been told about it, nobody who looks for planning at home for anything, we have to look at all those issues. So why are we allowing Irish water to do what they like? A bank check, are we going to have a children's hospital number two? We are. It used to be a small amount of money, now they're talking between three and ten billion. To put two big pipes up through the middle of the country, when it's totally unnecessary. Fix the leaks in Dublin, common sense, save the water, treated water, my lad that's been leaked up to 40% of it on a daily basis and treated. Thanks, I'd like to thank Deputy McGrath for raising this important issue. And to say that there is a critical need for a new water source for Dublin and the East and the Midlands. Currently, the River Liffey supplies 85% of the water requirements for 1.7 million people in Dublin, Mead, Kildare and Wicklow. By relying so heavily on one river, there's no alternative if there is a contamination or a weather event, or indeed backup if equipment failure affects supply. This project will provide Dublin, Mead, Kildare, Wicklow with a resilient, safe and secure water supply. It will also provide infrastructure with the capacity for future offtakes to serve communities along the route in Tipperary, Offaly and in West Mead. The current cost estimate is €4.6 billion to €6 billion and the construction of the project is scheduled to commence in 2028 with Aisge Aireann aiming to complete the project by 2032, subject to planning and other statutory approvals. It is important to note that the project will extract a maximum of 2% of the average flow of the River Shannon at the Parteen Basin downstream of Lough Dorogh. Water levels at Lough Dorogh and the Parteen Basin will remain in the control of the ESB and the abstraction will not affect the normal operating water levels. Aisge Aireann's modelling shows that the abstraction is sustainable, will have a neutral effect on water quality and there will not be a visible day-to-day difference for any water users. Extensive preparation and studies have been undertaken and Aisge Aireann will continue to monitor the project during and after its construction. The potential environmental impacts of the project are being considered as part of the statutory planning process and will ultimately form part of the determination to be made by Uncommissioned Planala. This includes an extensive public consultation. As part of the planning application for the project submitted last December, a 30,000-page environmental assessment report was submitted by Aisge Aireann. This report includes details of any likely significant environmental effects that may arise and the proposed mitigation measures that are being put in place. All of this is being considered as part of the planning application process for the project and I would also note that the environmental assessment and other planning documents have been published by Aisge Aireann. On the lands required for the project, Aisge Aireann has engaged extensively with the main farming organisations, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association and the Irish Farmers Association and an agreement has been reached on the standard agricultural way leave package with both landowners' representative organisations. And we're also pleased to note that around 81% of the landowners have already signed up to this compensation package and Aisge Aireann are continuing their community engagement efforts. Aisge Aireann's community engagement clinics are continuing throughout 2026 and a dedicated community liaison officer is working with the local communities along the route. The government is committed to getting this vital infrastructure built as quickly as possible and will continue to support Aisge Aireann to deliver it. Go raibh maith agat, go raibh maith agat, listen Minister, the same thing happens here. As Einstein said, the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result was a form of insanity. Aisge Aireann, obviously a Rural Control Minister, we all know that dealing with her on a regular basis, and you'll believe this, and it typifies here the arrogance that 81% of farmers have signed up to a project that hasn't got a planning commission or hasn't got an abstraction licence. Imagine that they've spent hundreds of millions paid out on a 25% payment to those landowners. And I criticise the IFA and ICMSA for doing those kind of seedy deals, as I call them, before even planning this project, just for the sake of this country. It's like ignoring the farmers. What about the 100 landowners that haven't signed up and don't want this going to their land? And many of the others who might neither but have been forced by the so-called representative bodies. We'll leave the people behind and we learnt nothing from the protests last week. Minister, I could go into a lot of stuff here. The habitat directive has been just totally overruled. The Shannon system is already, as I said, ecologically stressed, we know that. Minister, there are channels that haven't been examined. It's insane to pump treated water from the Patine Basin into Dublin to leak up to 40% of it into the ground. And we ought to remember what leaks back in when the pressure goes down and there's bursts, the kind of filth and dirt that seeps back in here to the people of Dublin and the water they're getting. And are we going to store the water in a pipe for a month, we're told, during different drought periods? What kind of water are we going to have? This is insane stuff. But it's just a typical situation of ischium, gunn and just arrogance. They won't deal with anybody properly. They're just throwing money at the problem. The government throwing money at them. And I can tell you here and now, that Councillor Jamie Morrison, Phil Buggler, and indeed Emma Kennedy and the team here last week, and all the people who are opposed to this, not for any selfish reasons, but for the sake of the ecology, for the sake of the River Shannon, for the sake of the region, and for the sake of insanity, are not going to go away easy on this. Because it's riddled with mistakes and there'll be juridical reviews and God knows what. And it'll be filed down all over the place, because it's based on a tissue of false information and not proper statistics. So it's important to restate why we need the project. Currently the water supply in the Eastern and Midlands region faces a number of serious challenges. A single source River Liffey supplies 85% of the water requirements for 1.7 million people in the Greater Dublin area. This dependency on the Liffey results in a serious vulnerability to risks such as prolonged drought and air contamination, not just for Dublin, but for the whole of the Eastern and Midlands region. With forecasts showing that the region will need 34% more water by the year 2044 than is available today, this situation is not sustainable. The project will address these challenges and will provide a secure water supply for housing development and economic growth across the Eastern and Midlands region. The project works in tandem with ongoing leakage reduction efforts and Aisgearan is investing over 2 billion euros in leakage reduction under the revised National Development Plan. Fixing leaks is of course essential, but it is only part of the solution. Fixing leaks alone will not meet the needs of the region, nor will it address the issue of over-reliance on the River Liffey. A new sustainable source of water is required alongside continued leakage reduction. The project went for planning permission in December last year and construction is hoped to commence in 2028, subject to planning being granted and not challenged via litigation. So Aisgearan is hoping to complete the project by 2032. The project will work in tandem with Aisgearan's other major project, the Greater Dublin Drainage Project. Aisgearan will continue to work to accelerate the delivery of this vital infrastructure, and this process has already been greatly aided by reforms the Government has made as part of implementing Accelerating Infrastructure Report. Thank you.