Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín has criticised the revised National Development Plan announced today for dodging required investment in our national water infrastructure.
Less than €13bn has been earmarked for water infrastructure, despite Irish Water’s director telling Aontú that it will require between €50-60bn by 2050 at minimum, just to address the issues that infrastructure faces today.
Speaking today, the Meath West TD said:
“This revised NDP is, as expected, a glossy document which tinkers around the edges in terms of required infrastructural funding on key deficits throughout the country.
€2bn in equity funding is being provided to Uisce Éireann in 2025 with a further €2.5bn in funding being provided for large-scale projects over the period to 2030.
This is far from the transformational spending that Ministers had told us to expect around water infrastructure.
Indeed, the information given to me at a recent Infrastructure Committee directly from Irish Water outlined that the deficit in water connections would affect the building of homes for the next 25 years.
Its management also outlined clearly that it takes five to seven years to get through all stages of a straightforward capital project, but seven to 10 years for more complex projects, and more than a decade for very complex investments.
The glossy document announced by Ministers today will do nothing to address these delays. The new Infrastructure Division with DPER is there to cushion the Minister and the government from their record of waste, and we have no doubt that it will make little impact other than making this government less accountable for overruns, delays and a lack of delivery.
This country has never had a problem with accessing finance for infrastructure spending; its problem has been accountability and delivery. We will continue to hold Ministers accountable and demand real on-the-ground delivery on projects, within budget and on-time.”
