Delays over bog plan for Dublin water ‘frustrating’

Bord na Móna, which yesterday announced a tripling of its annual profits, expressed its “frustration” over perceived delays from Irish Water in assessing a proposal by it to flood a midlands bog to plug water shortages in Dublin.

“I’m sure Irish Water is not intentionally dragging its feet and that it’s very busy,” said Gabriel d’Arcy, Bord na Móna’s chief executive. “But there has been little or no movement in two years on this much-needed project and I don’t know why. It’s very frustrating. The logic for the project is outstanding and I just feel that the thing needs to crack on at this stage.”

The proposed project Mr D'Arcy referred to is at Garryhinch on the Offaly-Laois border. Bord na Móna, which missed out to Bord Gáis for the mandate to set up Irish Water, wants to flood the peat bog with water diverted from Lough Derg, which would be piped to Dublin to deal with shortages.

The Garryhinch proposal also includes a tourism-oriented eco-park around the reservoir, modelled on the Rutland Water park in Britain, including an inland sailing school and a fisheries centre.

The project would create up to 1,000 jobs during the construction and reportedly cost €540 million. Bord na Móna estimates about 100 permanent jobs would also be created.

Supply to capital

Dublin is facing massive water shortages by 2020 unless a new scheme is built by then, the government has warned, while companies operating near the capital such as

Intel

have expressed concern about their access to sufficient water.

Irish Water last night said it had no “formal arrangement” with Bord na Móna and it will be 2015 before it makes any decision on a solution for Dublin. “Irish Water took over responsibility for the [Dublin project] in January 2014 and is progressing the project to an ambitious timeline,” it said.

“[The company] will progress the option which best satisfies the competing priorities of the environmental, social and economic objectives of the project. There are a range of options under consideration,” Irish Water added

Bord na Móna, meanwhile, continues to refer to Garryhinch as the “preferred” option for the Dublin water project.Yesterday, it announced flat sales of €427 million although its profits before tax were up 218 per cent to just under €40 million. Mr D’Arcy attributed the improvement to a bumper peat harvest following last year’s hot summer.

The company posted record turnover in its waste division and Mr D’Arcy confirmed it is on the lookout for acquisitions in the waste collection sector.

The company’s wind generation business also performed strongly, with a further €170 million of windfarms due to come onstream this year.

This part of Bord na Móna's business may be subsumed into an environmental joint venture with Coillte being pushed by the government.

“The company’s balance sheet is strong enough for us to take on a number of capital projects,” said Mr D’Arcy.