Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien has announced that a €50 million waste water funding scheme has been launched targeting waste-water collection and treatment needs in rural villages. The launch of the initiative follows the completion of a review of villages and settlements that do not have access to public waste water infrastructure. This work included consultation with stakeholders and a detailed survey completed by local authorities of those villages and settlements.
Under the waste water funding scheme, local authorities will be given the opportunity to develop early and comprehensive applications, which will be included in the department’s overall Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme 2022-2025. According to the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, this will allow the villages and settlements, that will ultimately be approved for funding, to have a real and meaningful prospect of a speedier and more successful outcome. The principal policy drivers of this new initiative are to provide opportunities to support the provision of housing in smaller villages, which are not currently serviced by collective waste-water treatment systems. It additionally aims to reduce the risk to public health and preventing water pollution.
Minister O’Brien says “the improved waste-water services will enable local authorities to work in partnership with the community to enable villages and settlements to be better places to live, work and visit, to support overall government objectives under Housing for All and give practical effect to our vision for a vibrant rural Ireland under Our Rural Future.”
This new measure will provide 85% exchequer funding through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the remaining 15% in funding coming from the relevant local authority.