Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Ann Graves (SF), Dublin Fingal East

Households pay for their water. It is not free. It is an essential service covered by general taxation, which funds Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann was dressed up as a solution to all our water problems, but for the people in Dublin Fingal East whom I represent, this is not the case. Uisce Éireann is a major obstacle to the progress on building houses and getting them out for sale to new families. We have a phase of new homes in Knocksedan, a housing development that has been delayed because Uisce Éireann would not give the go-ahead to the developer for a new pumping station. This was only resolved in January of this year, following 18 emails from myself and phone calls to Uisce Éireann. In the meantime, the developer was also contacting Uisce Éireann, but nothing happened. Each communication was assigned a new ticket which further delayed the resolution and caused further frustration for new residents. Initially, it was a planning issue. Then it was permission from a landowner, then it was a riser and then the planning went out of date and new drawings had to be done. This was all at the cost of the developer and home buyers. Some of them who had given up rental properties had to move back in with their families. Some of them have had to go for new mortgage reapproval and some people are sofa surfing while they wait for these houses to be delivered. They expected them in the summer of last year. In June last year, I contacted the Minister to intervene to ensure that the connections would be carried out as a matter of urgency, allowing families to move in as soon as possible. This is in the middle of a housing crisis. This has caused huge hardship, stress and expense to these families.
In another case, a woman living in Donabate contacted me regarding asbestos pipes in her home and garden. The water for new development in Donabate is being forced through the old pipes, causing leaks. The water floods her garden and her septic tank and this requires huge clean-up which is extremely costly and a health and safety risk. The last flood came right up to her front door. Unfortunately, Uisce Éireann has no plans to replace the pipes, so this issue will be ongoing for some time until the replacements can be added to the schedule of works for Uisce Éireann. This is unacceptable. These are just two examples of cases that are affecting people's homes, not even touching on the infrastructural problems that we have. Uisce Éireann is a public utility funded by the public. It is about time it serves the public.

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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