Government must urgently clarify capital funding arrangements for Uisce Éireann – Eoin Ó Broin TD

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing and Water, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has called on the Ministers for Finance, Public Expenditure and Housing to urgently clarify the capital funding arrangements for Uisce Éireann.

The Dublin Mid-West TD made the call following revelations in today’s Irish Times that the government budget day announcement of an extra €1n for the water utility to support increased housing supply was not additional funding.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“On budget day in October, the then Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and his party colleague, the then Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, both announced an additional capital investment of €1bn in Uisce Éireann, to support increased housing supply.

“However, today in the Irish Times, correspondence between the then Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and chairperson of Uisce Éireann, Jerry Grant, secured by journalist Jack Horgan Jones under FOI, flatly contradicts this claim.

“In that correspondence Mr Grant makes it clear that the €1bn is not additional expenditure, but rather an alternative financing mechanism to cover existing commitments. Mr Grant also indicates that this is in ‘direct contradiction’ to the impression given to the public by the Ministers for Finance, Housing and other government spokespersons.

“Mr Grant sets out the factual position very clearly when he states that ‘As you are aware, [the €1bn] did not represent ‘additional funding’ but was provided in lieu of a new debt facility from the Department of Finance to UÉ.’ Mr Grant goes on to say that, ‘the €1bn capital contribution therefore does not provide any further funding to UÉ to allow the delivery of additional infrastructure’.

“It is clear from the correspondence with Mr Grant and his subsequent public commentary last month, also reported in the Irish Times, that our water and wastewater system does not have the capacity to service these increased targets.

“Uisce Éireann has made clear that in order to meet these new targets it requires an additional capital funding of €1.7bn over the next five years, none of which has been committed to by the government.

“The government has been caught out again misleading the public on housing. Just as their claims that 40,000 new homes would be delivered in 2024 were exposed as untrue, so too has their claim of additional funding for water and wastewater infrastructure.

“The failure of the government to provide this additional funding to the utility will make it impossible for them to deliver their increased housing targets of 50,000 new homes a year.

“Today I have written to the Ministers responsible for Finance, Public Expenditure and Housing calling on them to come clean on their attempt to mislead the public and asking them to urgently clarify the capital funding position of Uisce Éireann.”