Irish Water pushing ahead with €1.3bn plan to pump Shannon water to Dublin

Irish Water has confirmed it is to press ahead with one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in Ireland — the pumping of water from the Shannon river all the way to Dublin to supply the capital’s taps.

However, the €1.3bn project — which has already almost tripled in estimated cost in four years and fallen more than a year behind schedule — is facing further delays because the Government has failed to update the 75-year-old laws that govern water abstraction.

The European Commission warned in 2000 that Ireland’s laws did not comply with the Water Framework Directive, which insists on much more comprehensive regulation of abstraction together with the establishment of an abstraction licence regime.