The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, visited the State's largest sewerage works on Tuesday, 4th November.

Mr Alan Kelly said the Ringsend Wasterwater treatment plant is to receive a €180 million upgrade, down from the original €350 million cost, with €70 million plus to be spent on expansion and €100 million plus on retrofitting tanks.

The Minister said: "Irish Water will save €170 million on the upgrading of Ringsend Wastewater treatment plant. This single project, will save the taxpayer what it cost to establish Irish Water. This was originally estimated to cost over €350 million and will now be in the region of €180million because of the new technologies procured by Irish Water. The saving on this upgrade alone is the equivalent of the cost of setting up Irish Water. This will be the type investment needed and will be delivered by Irish Water going forward. This is the dynamic which the utility Irish Water brings to the table.

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"It was only last year businesses and restaurants in Dublin were operating under water restrictions – in fact during the web summit when many international investors and potential employers were in Dublin. Most European cities like Dublin have a spare water supply capacity of 15-20%, in Dublin it is between 1 and 4%. The slightest interruption to supplies can bring city businesses to a shuddering halt. After decades of under-investment in our water infrastructure we now need to invest heavily in our infrastructure. It is simply no longer acceptable that 20,000 households in Roscommon must boil their water, almost 1 million people have their supply at risk and we are still discharging raw sewage into our bays. This is why we need Irish Water. We are already borrowing €800million every month just to keep the books balanced. That in itself is not sustainable. Irish Water will be in a position to borrow on the markets to provide the investment that is badly needed."

(CD/MH)