Council says it can provide expertise to Cork developers to build wastewater treatment plants
'If they can’t fix the issues then we’re not going to fix the housing crisis.'
Cork County Council has told Uisce Éireann it is willing to provide expertise to developers who are prepared to build wastewater treatment plants in order to increase housing output.
Council chief executive Moira Murrell said there are areas around the county where such pilot schemes would work.
She said the council would be prepared to oversee the development of wastewater treatment plants to ensure they are of a standard which will allow the utility to take them over when they’re completed.
Ms Murrell said the lack of wastewater treatment infrastructure in particular is “a critical issue across the county.” She made the comments after councillors criticised a reply from the office of minister James Browne, who is in charge of Uisce Éireann, which they claimed showed a lack of urgency in addressing water and sewage infrastructure deficits in the county.
Independent councillor Finbarr Harrington said large swathes of West Cork had to have water “tankered in” during the summer, which was completely unacceptable.
“Uisce Éireann need to take on all the knowledge and expertise this local authority has. If they can’t fix the issues then we’re not going to fix the housing crisis,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll said that a number of villages cannot expand because they are at capacity for water and wastewater and as the utility can’t address this the only other possibility is that developers will.
Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty suggested the council should go further than just helping developers build treatment plants.
He said the council should be allowed to deal with water and sewage infrastructure projects in all settlements with a population of 20,000 or less and let Uisce Éireann look after bigger projects.
“We need to take back control of the smaller areas like we had before (Uisce Éireann took over) and go back to basics,” said Independent Ireland councillor Daniel Sexton.
According to Fianna Fáil councillor Gillian Coughlan, the council will be unable to implement the growth projected in its County Development Plan if the utility doesn’t provide the vital infrastructure.
Independent councillor Ben Dalton-O’Sullivan said the council should send a letter to every TD and senator in the region imploring them to ensure that Uisce Éireann is given the money it needs when the government decided on the budget next month.
