This will be achieved through the planned roll-out of a universal programme of water metering this year which will lead to the creation of up to 2,000 jobs for the three year duration of the metering installation programme. Once the metering programme has been completed, a steady level of capital investment of potentially €600 million per annum in water services, facilitated through a new public utility, Irish Water, will see this level of construction employment sustained on an ongoing basis through capital investment in new infrastructure. The Minister's announcement follows the announcement yesterday of a public consultation on a suite of fundamental reforms of the water sector.
Minister Hogan said: "Jobs are at the core of this Government's plan and the water reform programme will form a key element of our job creation strategy. The rollout of the water metering programme will result in direct employment for approximately 2,000 much-needed good quality jobs for the construction sector. A commitment to establish Irish Water as a public utility will allow for a higher level of capital investment in the sector through a long-term multi-annual programme sustaining and creating further jobs in the sector for construction workers, engineers, quantity surveyors, technicians, plumbers and others involved in the water industry generally in Ireland. This will have a real economic and job creation impact and the certainty of funding will be welcomed by the construction sector, which has seen a reduction in employment of 60% between 2007 and 2011."
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The Programme for Government commitment to create Irish Water is an important plank of the NewERA plan to make significant additional investment in next generation infrastructure. The Government has been preparing the groundwork for these fundamental changes in the water sector over the last few months.
Fergus O’Dowd, T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA acknowledged the good track record of the local government sector in delivering water service infrastructure, particularly over the past decade, and in addressing customer needs, as demonstrated in their response to severe weather events.
Minister Hogan said: "The provision of a continuous supply of clean water is such a fundamental requirement for society, it is vital that a high level of ambition will be set for Irish Water. It will need to plan strategically for the decades ahead to ensure that Ireland, which is rich in water resources, can continue to exploit this natural advantage to attract foreign direct investment, high end employment, and meet the needs and demands of our existing businesses and communities for high quality water and security of supply.
"While water and waste water treatment capacity has increased substantially over the past decade, there will continue to be a very significant demand for water services from certain industries and sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food production and processing. Industries that are heavily reliant on substantial quantities of good quality water are some of our best performers at the moment," said Minister Hogan recalling the recently published export figures for Irish food and drink which reached record levels last year with the value of sales abroad increasing by 12% to almost €9 billion. Ambitious production and growth targets set out in Food Harvest 2020 for the agri-food sector in particular, and the expansion of the pharma-chem and IT sectors, which are major employers in Ireland, will continue to rely on the capacity of the State to assure these key industry sectors that it can provide a good quality and responsive water service.
The first phase of the independent assessment on the establishment of a public water utility provided for in the agreement with the EU/IMF/ECB has been completed and the report of the independent assessment has been considered by Government.
(CD/GK)
