Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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George Lawlor (LAB), Wexford

The issue of unfinished estates is something the Minister is familiar with. It is taking an inordinate amount of time for estates to be taken in charge, particularly some of the older ones where I appreciate there are some difficulties. Mostly the hold-up is down to Uisce Éireann. County councils, unusually, have come to the table on this and have said they are anxious to take estates in charge, yet Irish Water seems very reluctant to allow this to happen. It wants to engage with developers and companies but some of the developers have, sadly, passed away. Some of the companies involved in the development of these estates are gone. Who are we waiting for? Who are we going to be able to call? We cannot call the developers who have passed away or the companies that have gone. Still Uisce Éireann will not agree to allow or facilitate the taking in charge of these estates.
With regard to new connections, I have spoken to a number of developers who, when they look to develop new homes, and I know this is a key tenet of the Minister's campaign on the housing issue, often hit brick walls when it comes to accessing the network or infrastructure. I spoke to one developer who had to invest €1.4 million to upgrade Uisce Éireann facilities or else wait three years before he could build 180 houses. Another developer had to invest €1.3 million as Uisce Éireann would not intervene, and there were 500 houses involved. Luckily these developers went ahead and invested the money but, unfortunately, it was the new home owners who had to foot the bill. This is happening across the country in county after county. All the big Irish civil engineering companies have reported that they are in the UK operating and building the water infrastructure there because there is no, for want of a better word, pipeline of work here for them to depend on. I ask the Minister to look at these two issues of unfinished estates and new connections.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21