AN COIMISIÚN PLEANÁLA (ACP) has put back making a decision for up to one year on Uisce Éireann’s contentious plans to extract over 300 million litres of water a day from the River Shannon, to boost supply to the east of the country.

The ‘Proposed Water Supply Project for the Eastern and Midlands Region’ is the largest ever water project in Irish history.

ACP was due to make a decision on Uisce Éireann’s Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) application on 2 July but has written to all parties to say that “the Commission now intends to determine this application before 2 July 2027”.

The letter states that the Commission “will take all such steps as are open to it to ensure that the matter is determined before that date”.

Uisce Éireann lodged the plans last December and the ACP letter states that the statutory objective is to determine such a case within 18 weeks of the application being lodged.

The commission has told parties that “it will not be possible to determine the case within the statutory objective period due to the need for further consideration of the case”.

The project estimate cost is between €4.6 billion to €5.9 billion and the SID application is for permission to begin constructing the major water project that will pipe drinking water from the River Shannon at the Parteen Basin below Lough Derg on to the Midlands Eastern and Greater Dublin area.

The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, described the plan as “an imperative” when plans were lodged last December.

A total of 114 submissions have been lodged with ACP on the proposals and in an objection, the River Shannon Environmental Protection Alliance has told ACP that the “Eastern and Midlands Pipeline Project represents a high-risk, high-cost, and environmentally unsound approach to water supply”.

The alliance claimed that the proposal “fails to meet the requirements of EU environmental law, national climate policy, and fundamental principles of sustainable water management”.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath has told ACP that “the project represents an outdated, high-risk engineering solution that fails to protect the Shannon, fails to incorporate modem hydrogeological understanding, and fails to deliver a resilient long-term water strategy for Ireland”.

In a submission, industry representative body, IBEC has strongly urged ACP “to approve the application and enable the timely delivery of this essential strategic project” while Chambers Ireland state that “the project will help alleviate concerns regarding security of supply for both businesses and homes in a region covering a vast area of the State”.

A spokeswoman for Uisce Éireann said today that “the Water Supply Project Eastern & Midlands Region is a critical infrastructure project that will provide a resilient, safe, and secure water supply with capacity to address the water supply needs for up to 50% of the population. It is critical to the delivery of Housing and Growth for the State”. 

The spokeswoman said that “Uisce Éireann is aware of the recent communication issued by An Coimisiún Pleanála”.

She said: “Given the critical and urgent need for the project, we are working with Government to maintain the current delivery timelines, including the new water source entering into supply in 2032.”

She said that “we are committed to ensuring efficient delivery of the project and adapting our current programme to ensure delivery timelines are not impacted, pending the relevant statutory approvals. We welcome An Coimisiún Pleanála’s efforts to determine the application as soon as possible for a project of this scale.”