Opening Statement to the Public Accounts Committee

Opening Statement to the Committee on Public Accounts

Good morning An Cathaoirleach, Members of the Committee. I am Niall Gleeson, CEO of Uisce Éireann, and I am joined today by: 

• Chris McCarthy, Chief Financial Officer
• Sean Laffey, Asset Management and Sustainability Director
• Maria O’Dwyer, Infrastructure Delivery Director
• Margaret Attridge, Head of Water Operations 

Thank you to the Committee for the invitation to discuss our Financial Statements for 2024, as laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and published on our website as part of our Annual Report. 

As this is our first meeting with many of you here today, we provided a short high-level submission which also gives an overview of our role, governance structure, as well as financial and performance highlights from 2024. 

Uisce Éireann has been subject to annual audits by the Comptroller & Auditor General since 2023 and we are pleased to have received a clear audit opinion for the second year in a row for 2024. 

This is testament to our robust well-established system of internal controls, policies and processes that ensure overall consistency and compliance by staff across the organisation. We thank our Board for their ongoing governance and oversight. 

2024 was the final year of Uisce Éireann’s Third Regulatory Revenue Cycle which ran from 2020. During this period, we invested more than €5 billion upgrading and improving water and wastewater infrastructure and assets. 

2 Last year, we invested an estimated €1.37 billion in capital improvements – a record amount. This included the completion of 17 new and upgraded wastewater treatment plants and nine water treatment plants, the laying or rehabilitation of hundreds of kilometres of water mains and sewer network, and the daily treatment of some 1.7bn litres of water and 1.3bn litres wastewater across the country. 

These projects and programmes addressed our regulatory compliance obligations, created capacity for growth and supported the implementation of Government policies. 

Strategic milestones from 2024 include: 

• The completion of the Saggart Reservoir project, which delivered €59m to improve security and resilience of supply for hundreds of thousands of people across the Greater Dublin Area.
• Progression of the final phases of the €139m Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant in Wicklow, eliminating the discharge of raw sewage into the Avoca River. Its official completion was earlier this year – six months ahead of schedule.
• We completed the Troyswood Water Treatment Plant serving Kilkenny City, with an investment of €33m removing the area from the EPA’s list of vulnerable water supplies.
• Significant progress was also achieved against the Athlone Main Drainage Scheme project which is due to be completed later this year at a total investment of €114m.
• And in parallel, we continued to implement and progress one of the largest transformation programmes across the State, bringing all water services under one single national utility through the transfer of operational responsibility, knowledge and skills from Local Authorities to Uisce Éireann. 

These are just some of the projects and programmes we delivered across the country last year, but they demonstrate our capacity to leverage Exchequer funding to create lasting benefits – safeguarding public health, protecting the environment, and enabling communities to thrive. 

We have received clear commitment from Government to support our continued work, prioritising areas identified through national and regional plans to enable housing, economic and environmental goals. 

Our Strategic Funding Plan (SFP) covering the period to 2029 includes €10.3bn worth of investment in infrastructure and assets. This, with commitment to an additional ringfenced investment of €2bn to 2030 under the National Development Plan (NDP), provides record funding for water and wastewater services infrastructure.

Uisce Éireann welcomes this additional funding. We set out a clear case for its need and we are working closely with Government and stakeholders to realise this funding and deliver on-the-ground. 

To this end, there are a number of important milestones and underpinning dependencies. 

A key step in this process is the upcoming consultation by the CRU – our economic regulator - on Uisce Éireann’s draft Fourth Revenue Cycle and Capital Investment Plan for 2025 to 2029. The outcomes of this process will ensure we have a robust set of objectives and priorities to deliver against and be accountable for. 

Uisce Éireann is also playing a central role in the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce established by Minister Chambers, both through my own participation in the Steering Group and through our direct secondee to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation. We are working to identify and resolve the barriers to delivery of key infrastructure, address regulatory and legislative burden, and create an efficient, coordinated approach to achieve national objectives. 

We also have a secondee to the Housing Activation Office under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as we continue to support the Government in the delivery of its housing policy. 

Finally, progress against our strategically important national infrastructure projects, the Water Supply Project (WSP) Eastern & Midlands Region and the Greater Dublin Drainage Project (GDD), is paramount to unlocking capacity, ensuring resilience and reliability, and delivering for the common good. 

We welcome July’s planning approval by An Coimisiún Pleanála for GDD. It is disappointing the decision is being challenged for a second time but we remain focussed on the delivery of this essential project and are committed to commencing its delivery as soon as possible. For 4 WSP, we will be submitting our planning application by year end and hope to see its timely progress through the necessary processes. 

Further delay to these two strategic national infrastructure projects will have serious consequences for the delivery of housing and broader economic growth and development. It could also significantly hinder our progress towards essential climate and environmental objectives, putting both local communities and the wider environment at risk. 

By investing in resilient, sustainable water and wastewater infrastructure, we are enabling prosperity, safety, and well-being for all. This guides our decision-making and reinforces our resolve to deliver real and lasting benefits for generations to come. 

We welcome today’s discussion on our Financial Statements 2024 as a means of demonstrating how we are delivering on this commitment on behalf of the Exchequer. 

Lastly, in follow up to this meeting we would welcome the opportunity to invite the Committee to visit one of our infrastructure sites in the near future so all members can see first-hand the scale and significance of our operations. 

Thank you.