Water quality may benefit from a new 50 million euro funding scheme to provide treatment in small communities without access to public wastewater infrastructure.
Some 547 villages and settlements may be eligible for the scheme which aims to reduce risks to public health and prevent pollution.
It will be funded from the National Development Plan, and will run until 2025, according to Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien.
A baseline survey in 2021 quantified that a total of 547 communities did not have access to the collection and treatment infrastructure provided by Irish Water.
“The improved wastewater 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,” he said.
The new measure will provide 85% of Exchequer funding through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the remaining 15% in funding coming from the relevant local authority.
The first phase of funding announced this week will focus on areas of “most need”, based on housing and environmental criteria.
The Government’s “Our Rural Future” policy includes measures to address the water and wastewater infrastructural deficits and to support the revitalisation of rural towns and villages.
The baseline review conducted in 2021 recommended that, to ensure all public investment for this measure was sustainable, environmentally and economically justified, the initial investment needed to be directed at carefully selected demonstration projects.
