Sinn Féin has accused the Government of deliberately misleading the public when stating a €1 billion allocation to Uisce Éireann was “additional” funding earmarked for new capital spending.
The party’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin has written to three Government Ministers seeking an “urgent clarification” on the destination of the funding, announced in the budget.
The €1 billion came from the part of the proceeds of AIB paid to the State to repurchase shares in the bank and was to be earmarked for water infrastructure to support new housing.
Government departments maintained on Tuesday that the €1 billion equity investment did amount to extra funding.
Mr Ó Broin’s letter to Ministers came after a report in The Irish Times outlined how Uisce Éireann told the Government that €1 billion given to it in last year’s budget does not provide additional funding for the utility, and this was “in direct contradiction” to the impression given to the public.
The report set out how the chairman of the water utility, Jerry Grant, wrote to then-minister for housing Darragh O’Brien and stated the money was not additional funding but rather an alternative financing mechanism to cover existing commitments.
Mr Grant wrote: “The €1 billion capital contribution therefore does not provide any further funding to UÉ to allow the delivery of additional infrastructure.
“This is in direct contradiction to the message that this is ‘additional funding’ that has been allowed to permeate within Government circles, industry and the general public, and we need to address the implications of this”, he added.
On Tuesday, Mr Ó Broin wrote to Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and Minister for Housing James Browne asking them to “urgently clarify” the capital funding position of Uisce Éireann.
He claimed the Government had deliberately misled the Dáil and public last year giving the impression that the €1 billion of capital funding was additional to their existing capital programme.
Mr Ó Broin also asked Ministers to confirm that the money was allotted to existing spending.
In response to queries from The Irish Times about Mr Ó Broin’s letter, a Department of Housing statement said: “The €1 billion equity investment in Uisce Éireann was in addition to the voted funding provided in Budget 2025 and part of the overall funding mix for capital investment element of the Uisce Éireann Strategic Funding Plan for 2025-2029.”
The Department of Public Expenditure statement similarly said the €1 billion equity investment was “in addition to the voted funding allocation as part of the overall funding mix of capital investment”.
The Department of Housing statement added that it is “acknowledged that the investment in the Strategic Funding Plan for 2025-2029 does not take account of the new housing targets as they were set after the plan was submitted”.
It said that “Therefore, the Minister is reviewing an additional funding request from Uisce Éireann, on top of the Strategic Funding Plan 2025-2029, as indicated in the Programme for Government as part of the review of the National Development Plan (NDP), which is to be completed in the first half of this year.”
The Department of Public Expenditure said the NDP will provide an opportunity to implement the Government’s clear ambition to prioritise the delivery of transformative, critical and growth-enhancing infrastructure over the next five years.
It said: “In particular, it is this Government’s objective to increase investment levels in housing and to prioritise economic growth enhancing infrastructure, in particular water supply.”
