Water: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ Rory Hearne (SD), Dublin North-West The Minister knows water is a human right. While it is good that the Government is committed to support Uisce Éireann as a public utility, there are still significant issues in relation to water and wastewater across this country. There are also significant issues in Dublin where there are still major issues with leakages from pipes. A significant amount of clean, treated water is escaping from pipes and being lost. That is a loss of a natural resource and the investment that has gone into treating it. What is the Minister going to do to improve the significant leakage from old pipes in Dublin, which are losing a huge amount of our water? That is linked directly to what we are inevitably going to see again this summer in terms of water shortages. Dublin's water infrastructure is in a serious crisis, but that is also the case with its wastewater infrastructure. This connects directly to the need to develop housing, which we know is significant across Dublin city. We need to expand and increase the number of homes that are going to be built, but that is all going to put significant pressure on the existing water and wastewater infrastructure. I do not believe that Uisce Éireann, as it currently operates, is set up to meet that capacity and deliver the water and wastewater infrastructure to the extent to, which it is required and to bring it up to the standards that are needed so as to avoid us facing situations of water shortages and also the huge loss of water that is happening. We still face a problem with the Ringsend treatment plant where wastewater is being discharged into Dublin Bay at various points when there is a severe overload due to excessive rainwater. That happens, as we are seeing right now. Many people in my constituency use Dublin Bay. They swim in various parts of it, on the north side of it or on the south side. They use Dollymount Strand. For many people, Dublin Bay is one of the key spaces in which they can engage in leisure time and connect with nature. It is unacceptable that at many points throughout the year Dublin Bay is not usable because of poor water quality. While Uisce Éireann says that the Government has given it extra funding, it is not sufficient from the point of view of my constituents and the public to address the issues that are there. I also want to address an issue I previously raised when I spoke on this matter. While I welcome the commitment to Uisce Éireann as a public utility, we cannot get away from the reality, which is that for many decades since the 1970s, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been following the policies of privatisation and outsourcing of various public services. Within the set-up of Uisce Éireann, there was an intention to privatise it. That is why there is still a need to hold a referendum to enshrine water as a human right and as a public good. We need that guarantee. One of the things that has given me significant concern is the Minister's proposal to allow private developers to provide wastewater infrastructure. I understand that he is saying it is in order to accelerate the delivery of housing infrastructure, but I have a concern about it. What this shows is that despite the claims that Uisce Éireann is sufficiently funded, it is clearly not. If the Minister has to rely on private developers to provide wastewater infrastructure, clearly Uisce Éireann does not have that capacity. What he needs to do is to accept that Uisce Éireann does not have the capacity to develop the water and wastewater infrastructure that is needed to develop the homes, and he is relying on private developers to fill the gap. Why is that problematic? It is problematic because we have seen the issues with private development when they cut corners. They are doing it for profit. They are not doing it as a charity. I am concerned that we are going to be dealing with substandard water and wastewater infrastructure put in by private developers because of the Government's failure to ensure that Uisce Éireann is delivering and has the capacity and funding to deliver what is needed. I want to ask the Minister about the infrastructure fund that was announced today, which includes a reference to water. He said it is a €1 billion fund. Is the fund going to be used, for example, to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure? Is this additional funding on top of what was announced already or is it an announcement of the funding that was set out in the housing plan? Will the Minister clarify that? Is it funding that was already allocated within the housing budget and essentially an announcement of something that existed? Will the Minister clarify how much funding this scheme is going to give out each year? Will he clarify how much of it he expects to be given to private developers and the private market, which he mentioned in his press release today? Does he have any concern about additional public funding being given to private developers? We could actually see private developers being given public money to develop wastewater and water infrastructure for housing projects when Irish Water, the public utility, should be getting that funding to do it. Does the Minister see why, as a result, we might be concerned that Government still holds to the idea that the market should ultimately deliver these things rather than our public services? Of course, it is part of the playbook of neoliberalism to run down public services so they can then be privatised. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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