Irish Water to seek Shannon extraction permit next year

State company Uisce Éireann – formerly Irish Water – hopes to seek planning permission for its controversial Shannon extraction plan by the end of next year, according to one of the utility’s executives.

Uisce Éireann intends spending €1.65 billion on taking water from the river Shannon at Parteen, Co Tipperary and piping it to Dublin, the city’s commuter belt, the midlands and east, where demand is highest.

Brian Sheehan, the company’s director of infrastructure delivery, told the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) annual conference that it intends seeking planning permission for the project by the end of 2024, “with the view that it will be delivered by the end of the decade or in the early 2030s”, he added.

Local groups along the pipe’s likely routes oppose the plan. Farmers in the Parteen area warn that it could destroy their livelihoods.

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Opponents also argue that plugging leaks that cost Dublin’s supply system huge amounts of water would eliminate the need to tap the Shannon.

[ Irish Water begins search for new Dublin headquarters ]

Mr Sheehan said that Uisce Éireann had cut the volume lost to leaks to 36 per cent from 48 per cent since 2015 and would reduce this further to between 20 and 25 per cent by 2030.

He argued that even allowing for a sharp cut in leaks Dublin would still require a second source of water as the river Liffey would not cope with likely future demand in the capital.

The Shannon project will not just benefit Dublin, but also counties Meath, Westmeath, Kildare and Wicklow, along with parts of Louth and Wexford, Mr Sheehan noted, stressing that the project was of national importance.

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He also told the CIF gathering that the greater Dublin drainage scheme, vital to water treatment in the capital, is unlikely to get through planning delays before 2025. The State company first sought planning permission for the scheme five years ago.

[ Irish Water insists plan for €1.3bn pipeline to Dublin on track ]

“In the near future, we need another water treatment plant in Dublin,” he added.

Otherwise, Mr Sheehan said that the State company had “a lot of success” with the State’s heavily criticised planning system, particularly at local level.