Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 June 2025
263. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount funding provided to Kerry County Council and the number of group water schemes completed over the past ten years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35031/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to continued investment in rural water infrastructure which is delivering improvements to water services in areas of rural Ireland where Uisce Éireann services are not currently available.
As regards the funding being provided there are separate arrangements for capital and operational funding of the Group Water Sector.
The Multi-annual Rural Water Programme (MARWP) is the main funding stream providing capital funding to address the challenges faced by Group Water Schemes in maintaining, renewing and developing their systems and networks. Group Water Schemes are also paid an annual subsidy towards the operational costs of supplying water for domestic use. The administration and implementation of the Departments’ funding programme is devolved to the local authorities and my Department also provides funding directly to them for their costs.
Regarding the requested information on completed group water schemes each authority has a Rural Water Liaison Officer who is best placed to provide this information for their area. The Officer can be contacted at the Rural Water Section of the local authority, Kerry County Council in this case.
The table below sets out the amounts paid by my Department to Kerry County Council since 2014 to date:
|
Year |
Capital funding of Group Water Schemes - Multi-annual Rural Water Programme and other funding schemes prior to it. |
Operational funding of Group Water Schemes - Annual Subsidy. |
Local authority cost for administrating the Rural Water Programme. |
|
2014 |
€497,640 |
€177,725 |
€100,000 |
|
2015 |
€212,034 |
€178,291 |
€82,500 |
|
2016 |
€117,323 |
€185,741 |
€82,500 |
|
2017 |
€236,725 |
€189,330 |
€0 |
|
2018 |
€313,752 |
€246,187 |
€82,633 |
|
2019 |
€325,714 |
€238,168 |
€73,988 |
|
2020 |
€1,659,825 |
€278,983 |
€108,419 |
|
2021 |
€898,902 |
€231,059 |
€129,947 |
|
2022 |
€562,742 |
€278,040 |
€128,091 |
|
2023 |
€61,602 |
€273,848 |
€81,648 |
|
2024 |
€49,251 |
€43,305 |
€203,028 |
|
2025 |
€5,792 |
€0 |
€0 |
|
Total |
€4,941,302 |
€2,320,677 |
€1,072,754 |
