TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has urged the public not to object further to the Greater Dublin Drainage Project, stating it is urgently needed. 

During the week, the project was given the green light after seven years of uncertainty caused by legal challenges.

The major wastewater treatment plant, which will have the capacity to serve 500,000 people, is to be located on a 30-hectare site in Clonshagh in Fingal. Uisce Éireann says people in north Dublin, as well as parts of Meath and Kildare will benefit from it.

Objections to the development over environmental concerns had slowed the planning process, and had knock-on effects for housing projects in the area.

The cost of the project has doubled over the last seven years, now sitting at €1.3 billion. 

Speaking this morning in Cork city, Martin said:  

 ”I’m not sure that people are as aware of the urgency of all of this.”

“I would appeal to people not to object any further. I would appeal to people not to engage in judicial reviews of that An Bord Pleanala planning decision in terms of the drainage project, because the people of Dublin need it and surrounding counties need it,” he added. 

He went on to state that as a society, there is now a need to “balance our concerns about particular projects with the overall common good in society”. 

Water supply is the most fundamental common good of all, said the Taoiseach.

“We do not have the luxury or the capacity for extended judicial review mechanisms and processes anymore. Because the situation, in respect of the most fundamental of all, infrastructure, is serious,” said Martin.

Investment in infrastructure will be a key pillar in this year’s budget, he said, stating that if it is not done now, future generations “will not forgive us”.