Michael Collins: Says Iska Eirn water failures block housing

Thank you. We move now to Deputy Michael Collins. Thank you, Concurla. Minister Iska Eirn's strategic funding plan requirements was £11 billion in 2024, comprised of £6.1 billion in investment in infrastructure and £4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending have to be questioned, I will try and concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget. Every housing target that Finnegiel, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and Sochtimt have set are nothing short of far school. I will not use the word lie in the House, but what I will use is you are misleading the public, as none of the dream targets that all you have in housing set can be achieved because of a major lack of infrastructure, which comes down to Iska Eirn. We have a shocking mess in our hands, Minister, and you will have to clean it. Wastewater treatment plants are creaking and bursting throughout our country, and no matter how many meetings politicians and communities with Iska Eirn have, you will not get one inch of information to give back to your community that might lead to a solution. I will just mention a few, Golean, Pelladahub, Ross Garvey, Shannon Bale and Dunmanwe. That is just a few in West Cork that I could name. Dunmanwe's wastewater treatment plant is bursting at the seams and has burst into the rivers, and has been for years. We do not know if it is 10 or 20 years in time this treatment plant will be upgraded. But in that much time that Iska Eirn keep twiddling their thumbs, not a house can be built in Dunmanwe, in what could be a thriving town, and this is the same, the linked and breadth of Ireland. Meeting after meeting with public reps in Iska Eirn yield zero, and this must stop now. In the recent storm wastewater treatment plants throughout the country were found to have no generators. Not alone no generators, but not even switchover switches have been fitted in any plants in case of an emergency minister. Imagine, just pick Innescarran Cork, the plant, if it had an electricity shutdown for a number of days, and no generators in place, no switches in place in case they could even take a mobile one in. As is the case, every pharmaceutical, every business, every private householder, every hospital will be shut down, causing hundreds of thousands of euros losses, maybe leading to millions. Another area in Tarnishta where there is a major lack of confidence to senior employees in the council, who have been transferred to Iska Eirn, have either gone back to the council or jumped ship and taken retirement, leaving Iska Eirn shockingly short staff of good expertise that kept the show on the road in the local communities. And do management in Iska Eirn care? No. They really do not give a damn, as they are accountable to no one. They do not care when we run into problems like blockages or other in communities, as it is collar and tie pencil pushers are now running the show from the capital and to hell with the rural communities served by Iska Eirn. I have named out three areas in Iska Eirn that need on the ground attention immediately. Do you agree that some communities, Minister, like Shannon Vale in Clannacilty, that have raw sewage pouring in to a once local playground, which is now blocked off by Iska Eirn, should wait 27 years and still no response? Do you agree with Independent Ireland's policy document that any communities that have five years of leaking raw sewage into drinking rivers at Clay Park Community Gardens should have a stack date for works, or can you tell me what is your solution to Iska Eirn's mess? I think this Government has been very clear in stating that we need to invest more in our water system. That we need to do more to make sure that towns or communities or villages where they do not have access to the quality of water that they should, that there is investment there first and foremost. But also we ensure that sites are opened up, that in the delivery of housing in particular, that we have the investment, the infrastructure that is needed to achieve the overall objective and the overall goals and the overall targets that we have set ourselves. Irish Water itself, or Iska Eirn, we have set a very clear level of investment. There will be record levels invested in the period of 2021 to this year. Commitments of almost 6 billion euro in capital investment of which over 4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funding for domestic water services, and we are already starting to see the benefit of that. I look at my own constituency in County Meath, where for many years we had significant problems in the towns of Ratoth and Ashburn and surrounding areas with water, with water quality. With 40 million euro of an investment into a new water tower, that issue has been resolved and we are starting to see challenges and problems like that resolved right across the country. What have we said as a Government we will do? We will invest even further. We said very clearly with the review of the NDP, which will happen earlier this year, that there will be a particular focus on making sure that we invest in our infrastructure, which very clearly includes our water, that we have an increase in windfall tax receipts, but also the apple money that we know we have said very clearly prior to the election and since then that a significant amount of that will be spent on investment in our wastewater treatment. In terms of the storm and the response, I have to commend every person through the ESB and those in Ishka Aaron and beyond who responded to what was an unprecedented incident where we saw tens of thousands of people, not just without electricity but also without water and without power. What happened in response by Ishka Aaron was that almost 400,000 customers through backup generation had their service maintained. There was a huge amount of work done to make sure that where possible we could maintain that service and those who were out of service, it is now the case that that has been restored and was restored as quickly as possible. What we are looking to do now in Ishka Aaron in particular is to increase its stock of mobile generators because we know that these storms are not going to end. They want to increase them by an additional 100 generators and these will be purchased immediately. On top of that, they are also accelerating their programme to make sites generator ready, so to make sure it is not possible to say that we will have a generator onsite in every single area, but if it is needed that those sites are absolutely ready. Can I just compliment and respond maybe to some of the Deputy's comments? We have quite a number of people working with about 3,500 people employed, operating some 1,800 water and wastewater treatment plants, 4,100 pumping stations, 2,400 abstraction points and reservoirs, maintaining 90,000 kilometres of pipelines. There is a huge amount of work taking place by those of Ishka Aaron. We wanted to do more, we will do more and we are going to invest significantly so that we can expand the infrastructure right across the country. Thank you Minister, and you know the issue, I have raised two issues, within Ishka Aaron, the generators there was not even a switchover point in many of the plants that are there at the moment, not even a switchover point, so if the emergency is stuck in, they could bring a mobile unit in, they could not even plug it in. It is an astonishing situation, apparently there are employees full-time to organise this for the last two years. The people of Ireland are calling out for accountability, I have asked you for your solution and for the communities out there that have raw sewage pouring into their communities, but the answer you gave me will not be good enough Minister, for me to give back to my communities to prove that they at least get a date as the wind works will start, that is the most important thing here, if we could get a date it would solve a lot of the issues going forward that people know, even if it is three years time or five years time, but when you sit down with Ishka Aaron, you don't know if it is 10 years time or 20 years time, you are going to end up with only a whole lot of waffle talk. I have named many communities in West Cork, but this is a national crisis, that we shut a blind eye to and all this while all parties here and outside of the independent Ireland read out unachievable targets. What do I say to the people of Goldeen-Wayton 26 years, Bella the Hop 15 years, Ross Garvey tin, Dunman-Wayton, Shannon Vale 27 years, they have raw sewage pouring into their communities every day, and Ishka Aaron and their buddies at EP and others shutting a blind eye to them. What do I say to them? To respond to both points, in relation to the storm, a committee has already been established on a permanent basis, to make sure that all departments, that all relevant agencies are prepared should something like this happen again, and as I have said, the likelihood of that is quite high. So what Arishka Aaron is doing is they are purchasing more generators, they are making sure that sites are a generator ready and anything more that they need to do, they will do. Separate to that then, we need more investment overall, and Government is saying very clearly, we need more investment in wastewater treatment, and that is going to happen. We are saying very clearly, with the review of the NDP, we will focus on infrastructure, with the money that we are spending through Apple, we will focus on infrastructure, with housing being our number one priority. What is one of the main things that will help unlock many of the sites that we want to build on? It is making sure that we have that infrastructure, that we have that access to wastewater treatment, but also, and to acknowledge, Deputy, for the people who are already living in houses in their communities where there are problems, that we upgrade, that we invest, and we do that as quickly as possible. That means money, but also expanding on Arishka Aaron, and there is a very clear commitment to expand the number of people that I have mentioned working in Arishka Aaron, so that that work can be done as quickly as possible, and that those concerns can be addressed as quickly as possible. Thank you. Thank you. .