Galway East TD Seán Canney has called on the Government to make regional development a reality by investing in water and wastewater infrastructure in rural towns and villages.
Deputy Canney along with the Regional Group argue that since the inception of Irish Water, plans for wastewater infrastructure development in the regions have been abandoned.
He said that there is also a continuous concentration on environmental breaches and issues with the infrastructure in the main centres.
“The Environmental Protection Agency 2019 report is highly critical of Irish Water’s delivery of new treatment plants, noting that towns and villages continue to discharge raw sewerage into nearby waters and highlighted the key issues within the water infrastructure,” said Deputy Canney.
“This Government now wants rid of rural one-off homes, but we cannot build in the towns and villages due to the lack of wastewater services.
“Towns and villages need investment to provide the infrastructure necessary to attract families to live, work and raise their families.”
The Independent TD said that clean water and wastewater systems are essential components to grow communities – but Irish Water has ‘abandoned Local Authorities plans for wastewater services in these towns and villages due to lack of funding’.
“Regional Group members call on the Government to put in place a transparent cost structure for new, and develop extensions to existing, water and wastewater treatment infrastructure as a matter of urgency.
“Towns and Villages such as Craughwell, Athenry, Corofin and Abbeyknockmoy are left to stagnate due to the absence of wastewater facilities. These are designates growth centres for Galway but in a time of a housing crisis we cannot build homes in the centres.
“This situation is replicated across the regions where we could be building communities for people to live in, work and raise their families.”
