'Development plan won't work without development'

Several Donegal county councillors have accused Uisce Éireann, formerly and commonly known as Irish Water, of failing to keep pace with proposed developments in their towns and villages.

The attack came at today's special council meeting in Lifford held to decide on whether to publish the draft version of the County Donegal Development Plan 2024-2030 and its Environmental Report or make amendments to it.

The councillors accused the state-owned water utility company of failing to provide water and wastewater services thereby preventing developers from building houses to help tackle the ongoing housing crisis.

Inishowen councillor Martin McDermott said the council executive should contact Irish Water right away to see how this could be resolved.

"We are producing a development plan for our towns and villages yet Irish Water tell developers who are prepared to build 20-30 houses in Carndonagh that they could get planning but the infrastructure is not going to be there to build them. We don't have the water capacity within the town to give you water for 30 houses.

"We are doing a development plan to develop this county, to develop towns and villages yet the towns and villages we are trying to develop don't have the infrastructure in place to develop. How do we bring more houses or businesses into towns when Irish Water is telling one developer it will be three to four years before there is significant water for these houses?

"Where does that leave us as a council if we are looking to build social housing or to develop a place like Carndonagh in the future?"

He added Irish Water also had to be asked why Inishowen in particular did not have significant water resources when they had the Eddie Fullerton Pollen Dam in the middle of the peninsula which was sending water to all other parts of the county. He said he knew several other towns and villages had similar problems.

"Are we going to sign off on a development plan for areas that can't be developed?" he asked.

Cllr Noel Jordan said they were experiencing similar problems in South and West Donegal and highlighted an ongoing struggle in Mountcharles where land had been signed off for houses but Irish Water had told them the capacity for servicing them was not there and would not be for several years.

Cllr Ciaran Brogan said they had similar problems in Letterkenny and called for a traffic light system for roads, water and sewerage to show what areas were ready for development and the ones that were falling behind.

The discussions are set to resume shortly.