Private wires Bill and Dublin catchment oversight
Deputy Heneghan criticises delays to the private wires Bill, urges faster removal of planning barriers, and calls for a multi-agency Dublin catchment control group plus publication of overflow monitoring. Deputy Moran interjects briefly, and the Tánaiste says the Deputy is effective at attracting attention, welcomes him back, references progress in Clontarf, and asks the Minister to reply directly on the Bill's timeline.
I do not understand why the private wires Bill is taking so long. It is two lines in the SI need to be removed and we need 5 megawatts to be removed from planning. It is very simple. Denmark has done it and the UK has done it. This needs to be done as fast as possible.
We have established a committee but we need to establish a multi-agency Dublin catchment control group with clear accountability. As we saw in Bantry with the river, the EPA and everyone went in but no one knew who was responsible for the overflow. Second, we need to publish the monitoring of the 390 overflows into Dublin Bay. At present, we are not monitoring nearly enough and if we do not monitor all the overflows, we do not know how much wastewater we will be treating. As I said about Intel, it needs to treat its own wastewater rather than leaving our taxpayers to fund it through the greater Dublin drainage strategy. The ringfencing of oysters - I like that the Tánaiste mentioned the oysters - needs to be done. Nature-based solutions are the way forward, backed by hydromorphological studies and seasonal public spending.
I also thank the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Moran, for his visit and the work he has done on the flood defence in Clontarf. It is great to see Dublin Bay getting attention.
Comment on this
You will always get attention.
Comment on this
The Deputy has never been lacking in ability to get attention but it is good to have him back in this House. I am glad he is back safe and well. I thank him for his kind words for our Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW and I am pleased to see the progress. I had the chance to speak to both Deputy Heneghan and Deputy Ó Muirí last night regarding some of the progress being made in Clontarf and we need to see a lot more of that.
On the private wires Bill, let me ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come back to the Deputy directly on a timeline. He briefed us at Cabinet on this very recently and it is pretty imminent. There is a lot of good progress being made on that. On the broader issues the Deputy has raised regarding Dublin Bay and the need for information, I will ask the Minister and Irish Water to take a look at that and come back to him directly.