I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the Government's vision for water services is set out in the Water Services Policy Statement 2024 to 2030 (February 2024), which sets out three main objectives; availability and reliability, safety and quality and sustainability, along with a series of related priorities for water services delivery in the period to 2030, and beyond; — the Government's Water Sector Transformation Policy Paper (February 2021) further sets the vision for water services based on the full integration of water services provided by 31 local authorities into one national authority; — the objective is to deliver a world-class public water services authority that meets customer needs, operates in line with best practice, represents value for money, and facilitates economic development in urban and rural locations; — Uisce Éireann is the national utility for drinking water and wastewater services; — Uisce Éireann manage and operate some 700 water treatment plants, 1,000 wastewater treatment plants and over 4,000 water and wastewater pumping stations; — Uisce Éireann oversees over 65,000 kilometres (km) of water pipes and over 26,000 km of public sewers all processing roughly 3 billion litres of water and wastewater every day; — all of these assets and all of this activity is dedicated to delivering vital services to almost two million homes and business premises; — Uisce Éireann supplies drinking water to over 80 per cent of the population, 10 per cent of households get their drinking water from private wells while the remaining 6 per cent of households have their drinking water supplied by group schemes; — in relation to wastewater, two thirds of households are connected to public wastewater services provided by Uisce Éireann, with virtually all of the remaining one third of households disposing of wastewater using septic tanks; — Uisce Éireann's Board has responsibility for ensuring that the company delivers on its mandate and properly accounts for the financial resources made available to it; — Uisce Éireann is subject to economic regulation by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, that provides a constraint over the funding while monitoring performance and providing a complaints resolution service to customers; and — Uisce Éireann is subject to a dual audit by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and commercial auditors along with being accountable to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee; further notes that: — Uisce Éireann consistently meets high standards in the supply of drinking water, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noting in its most recent report in 2024, that 99.8 per cent of drinking water supplies meet all relevant standards, confirming that water provided by Uisce Éireann is safe to drink and that the EPA is providing robust regulatory oversight of Uisce Éireann when issues do arise; — Uisce Éireann has completed new wastewater infrastructure for 135 towns and villages, including the elimination of raw sewage discharges from 15 towns and villages; — urban wastewater is fourth in terms of sectoral pressure on water bodies behind agriculture, hydromorphology and forestry; — in the past 11 years, Uisce Éireann has ramped up capital delivery for water services and infrastructure from €300 million in 2014 to roughly €1.3 billion in 2025; — finding and fixing leaks is difficult and resource intensive work, but investment by Uisce Éireann of €2 billion over the last ten years has meant that Uisce Éireann has made significant progress and reduced leakage nationally from 48 per cent to 36 per cent; and — Uisce Éireann has advanced major projects in water supply and wastewater treatment notably the Water Supply Project – Eastern and Midlands Region and the Greater Dublin Drainage Project that will be transformational and two of the biggest infrastructure projects in the history of the State; and highlights that: — the Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to further enhance the ongoing significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services; — under the revised National Development Plan (NDP), the Government has scaled up support for the water sector with a record allocation of €12.2 billion in funding out to 2030; — Uisce Éireann will be allocated 95 per cent or €11.7 billion of the NDP funding over the next five years to support the delivery of a wide range of projects in our cities and regions required for housing delivery, safeguarding public health and the environment; — crucially, the delivery of the additional water services under the NDP will enable the capacity required for our new housing targets; — Uisce Éireann will implement a large national growth programme along with an enhanced Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme, to support our housing delivery for our urban and rural communities; and — only a national authority, backed by strong Government investment in water infrastructure, will deliver the standard of water and wastewater networks and environmental management systems required by Irish citizens and consumers in the 21st century.". I thank the Deputies for the opportunity to speak on this important matter. Our water infrastructure is vital to our health, our economy and our environment. Access to safe and clean drinking water for everyone is a top priority for the Government. The process of establishing Uisce Éireann as a stand-alone public utility continues to be a work in progress and it is only at the end of this year that the link with local authorities will finally be broken. The motivation for a stand-alone utility stems from the inherent inefficiencies of a fragmented network operated by 31 local authorities. It has also been stated and acknowledged many times in the House that a legacy of underinvestment in our water infrastructure by the local authorities means that there are many challenges Uisce Eireann is now seeking to address while also providing for significantly increased capacity for future business and population growth. We all see the evidence of the challenges in our constituencies linked to creaking infrastructure or the demands of growth. I am therefore working closely with Uisce Éireann to seek to ensure that the necessary resources are available to it and the challenges are tackled on a prioritised basis. There are record levels of funding being provided through the new national development plan. The scale of remedial work necessary in our water and wastewater systems will however take a number of years and investment cycles to resolve. Where new treatment plants or significant upgrades of existing plants are required, the design, planning procurement, construction and commissioning processes can take significant time. Through the national development plan, the Government is delivering a sustainable funding path to drive significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services. Since its inception as Ireland’s single public water utility in 2014, Uisce Éireann has steadily grown its capital investment in our water infrastructure, from €300 million in 2014 to €1.4 billion in 2026. However, this is only the start. Under the revised national development plan, €11.7 billion is being invested in Uisce Éireann to secure our water infrastructure for the future. This investment covers every part of our water infrastructure and every community, from the smallest to the largest, both urban and rural. In terms of environmental compliance, it is important to acknowledge that Uisce Éireann consistently meets high standards in the supply of drinking water as outlined in the motion, confirming that water provided by Uisce Éireann is safe to drink. The most recent EPA report on wastewater treatment covering 2024 noted that 92% of our large urban areas comply with EU standards for wastewater and 96% of our bathing waters are also compliant. When issues do arise and are identified by the EPA through its priority areas list, Uisce Éireann works actively to address these, with dedicated resources and specific plans. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, is the independent economic regulator of Uisce Éireann. The CRU provides a constraint over Uisce Éireann revenue, improving investment plans while monitoring performance and ensuring it runs efficiently. The CRU also has a role in protecting customers by setting service standards, handling complaints and providing dispute resolution for customer complaints that cannot be resolved with Uisce Éireann. Apart from being scrutinised by its statutory regulator, Uisce Éireann is also subject to rigorous financial scrutiny by way of dual audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General and commercial auditors, as well as being accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts and appearing before various other Oireachtas committees. I am well aware that there are concerns about communications between Uisce Éireann and the public, including public representatives. I met last year the chairman of Uisce Éireann and raised this issue. I have received assurances that it is a priority for the company. Uisce Éireann has constant contact with a diverse and large group of customers, communities and stakeholders through multiple channels daily. The means include online, digital and social media channels, along with a free text alert service that provides water-supply updates and information to customers across 1. 6 million households and businesses. Uisce Éireann also maintains a vulnerable customer register, where more or specialist support is offered, particularly in the case of an incident. Uisce Éireann also provides a dedicated service for elected representatives. Over the past ten years, Uisce Éireann has responded to over 100,000 queries directly received from over 1,100 elected representatives. Uisce Éireann holds annual in-person councillor workshops for all 31 local authorities to provide an update on service delivery and current and future investment in each county. However, I accept that communications by Uisce Éireann need to be improved significantly. Uisce Éireann is the national utility for drinking water and wastewater services, with the objective of providing a world-class public water service that meets customer needs, operates in line with best practice, represents value for money and facilitates economic development in urban and rural locations. The Government is committed to ensuring all areas of our water infrastructure are strengthened and that all our communities feel the benefits of this unprecedented investment in water services. Only a national water utility, backed by strong Government investment in water infrastructure, will deliver the standard of water and wastewater networks and environmental management systems required by our people for the 21st century. I will continue to work closely with Uisce Éireann and my colleagues across the Dáil and Seanad to ensure we remain firmly on the pathway to improved services delivery for all of our citizens.

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