Pipe plan lands at last

Submissions on the controversial plan to pump Shannon water to the Eastern and Midlands Region can now be readied as Uisce Éireann lodges its long-awaited planning application this week.

Plans for the Water Supply Project, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of the State, are to be lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála this Friday. Uisce Éireann’s planning application will be accompanied by a compulsory purchase order (CPO) application to deal with lands that have yet to be acquired for the 170km pipeline.

Around 500 farmers and landowners will be impacted along the proposed route of the pipe – 128 of them in Tipperary. It emerged last week that around three-quarters of those concerned have now agreed to provide Uisce Éireann with access rights to their land in return for compensation.

The multi-billion euro Water Supply Project will involve taking water from a point south of Lough Derg at Parteen to a treatment plant at Birdhill, from where it will be piped to a reservoir at Peamount, Co Dublin. Uisce Éireann has said that the project will have the capacity to support the water supply needs of up to half of the State’s population, providing Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow with a “resilient, safe, secure water supply”. It will also create a treated water supply “spine” across the country, providing infrastructure with the capacity for future off-takes to serve communities along the route in Tipperary, Offaly, and Westmeath.

COMMUNITY GAIN

A key aspect of the project, one welcomed by Tipperary Co Council earlier this year, is the multi-million euro community gain fund proposed by Uisce Éireann. The “bespoke Community Benefit Scheme” is intended to support communities that will host construction activities and permanent infrastructure. The fund has been developed in collaboration with local authorities along the route, and will directly support economic, environmental and educational community development initiatives, Uisce Éireann said.

A dedicated Community Liaison Officer will be visiting communities across the region, including Tipperary, to meet with local stakeholders and share further information on the project.

Announcing the planning application last week, Uisce Éireann said the pipe project is necessary to meet the challenges in the Eastern and Midlands, “notably the over-reliance on a single source to supply 1.7 million people. When delivered, this once in a generation project will ensure a sustainable, secure and resilient supply of drinking water to the Greater Dublin Area and wider Eastern and Midlands region, necessary to support our growing population and economy, including the increased demand for housing.”

‘MISUSE OF TAXPAYERS’ MONEY’

There is, however, steadfast opposition to the project at local level. Members of Nenagh Municipal District responded to a non-statutory consultation on the plan earlier this year, in which they described the pipe as a “misuse of taxpayers’ money” at a time when Tipperary desperately needs investment in its wastewater treatment infrastructure.

The councillors’ joint submission broadly endorsed the analysis of Emma Kennedy of Nenagh, one of the landowners affected by the project, and one of its most vocal critics. Ms Kennedy claimed Uisce Éireann’s water deficit calculations and demand projections for the Greater Dublin Area are erroneous, and that the solution to the supply problem lies with fixing the existing pipes in Dublin, rather than losing expensively-treated water to leaks.

The River Shannon Protection Alliance – of which the late Donal Whelan of Dromineer was a founding member in 2007 – has also questioned the necessity of the multi-billion euro scheme. The group has raised environmental and ecological concerns over allowing water levels in the Shannon to drop, particular in prolonged periods of dry weather.

But Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers last week maintained the project as “a vital piece of infrastructure to support Ireland’s development”.

Uisce Éireann’s planning application this week will be accompanied by an environmental impact assessment. The application will consist of over 500 documents.

Subject to a successful outcome, the company proposes to start construction in 2028, with a completion timeframe within five years.

LANDOWNERS ACCEPTING OFFERS

Meanwhile, hundreds of landowners along the route of the proposed pipeline have signed agreements with Uisce Éireann. Offers were made last July to those impacted in Tipperary, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin.

Around 75% of the 500 or so farmers and landowners have now given consent for their lands to be used in the project, according to the Sunday Independent. Uisce Éireann hopes that most of the remaining landowners will sign agreements in the coming months, though CPOs will be required to access some parts of the route.

Details of the deals being struck with landowners are being kept confidential.

Uisce Éireann stated last week that Landowner Liaison Officers will continue to provide impacted landowners with a dedicated point of contact for the project.