Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

I welcome the opportunity to talk about water again. We talked about it six months ago. I note that the Government has announced additional funding but if you look at the amount that is proposed in the programme, it is still wholly inadequate compared with what is required. The Uisce Éireann strategic plan is looking for over €16 billion up to 2029, and it has been estimated that, up to 2050, we need to spend over €60 billion on our water and waterways. That level of investment is a wartime investment, similar to what I have raised, along with Deputy Heneghan, as regards the grid. If you are going to have the potential to get revenue from AI companies down the line to build houses, you have to have water infrastructure and grid infrastructure. We are nowhere near to making those types of investment. Even if it means breaching the EU Stability and Growth Pact, we may need to borrow for it. We have to build the capacity ourselves. We have to think much bigger. We are still importing massive amounts of fossil fuels into this country to meet our energy requirements when we could be net exporters of renewable energy, with stored renewables such as hydrogen, but we are not putting in that investment.
Regarding the water grid, if you will pardon the pun, it is a drop in the ocean. That is the problem. We need to get serious. A number of my colleagues previously referred to the issue of blaming farmers and agriculture for water. According to the EPA, that most of the at-risk water bodies - 62% - are at risk is related to agriculture and agricultural run-offs. Although I supported motions against the Mercosur agreement because it does not exactly ring-fence the environmental concerns that we have about the rainforest or market access for farmers, it is hypocritical of us to try to get a nitrates directive derogation so that we can pump more animal excrement into our waterways. On one hand, we are touting what a great Government we have for putting further investment into water, even if it is not enough. On the other hand, our waterways are being diminished. There is still an increase in the amount of less than satisfactory waterways, according to the most recent figures. It was at 52% satisfactory. Now it has come down to about 49% or 50%. If it is going at that rate, the pollution of our waterways will always increase faster than the money.
We need to tackle the grid head-on as a strategic project and front-load that money, even if we have to borrow it and go into debt. Remember that, during Covid, we spent money like there was no tomorrow. I am well aware of and have mentioned the advice from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that we should not be spending beyond our means and depending on untenable pharmaceutical revenue, but when you are looking at strategic investment that would pay us back in the medium to long term, we need to invest in water sooner rather than later.

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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