Call to fast-track upgrade of town’s water facilities

IN Mitchelstown there are various planning permissions being approved and granted for new house builds and new estates to be built, but nothing has been able to move in recent years because the Irish Water facilities are not up to standard, Deputy Kevin O’Keeffe told the Dáil last week.

Recently, he said, there had been the even more shocking news of Irish Water’s announcement that it has rebundled the upgrade to Mitchelstown’s wastewater facilities with other new build facilities in East Cork. “This is shocking news for people in Mitchelstown to hear,” he said.

He asked if Irish Water could be asked to fasttrack the upgrade of the wastewater facilities in the town.

In response, the Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, said he recently announced a €1.7 billion investment in Irish Water for the next three or four years, primarily in respect of wastewater services. “What we have in the new housing delivery unit in the Department is a way to co-ordinate to ensure key sites ready to be built upon have the necessary services going into them,” he said. “It is also an ambition we have under Project Ireland 2040 and one of the new pieces of administration we are putting in will ensure things can be aligned.

“If the Deputy wants to pass me a detailed note on this I will see where it sits in the actual scheme of Irish Water’s priorities over the next three years.”