Farmers agree wayleave package for water supply project

Uisce Éireann has reached agreement with The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) on a voluntary wayleave package for farmers and landowners along the pipeline route for the Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region.

The project is to have major implications for stakeholders, landowners and communities along the 170km route, including farming communities across large parts of Offaly.

The agreement reached between Uisce Éireann and the farming bodies marks a significant milestone for the project in advance of the submission of a planning application to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Following months of negotiations, the farming organisations have agreed a compensation package that includes upfront payments for impacted landowners. This package reflects the scale and strategic importance of the project and aims to mitigate the impact of construction and operation on agricultural land.

Uisce Éireann is engaging directly with landowners on the compensation package. In July, Uisce Éireann issued a wayleave package to over 500 landowners along the proposed pipeline route, to acquire wayleaves on a voluntary basis. This will enable the acquisition of the necessary rights to lay, operate, and maintain the pipeline infrastructure, in advance of the submission of the Strategic Infrastructure Development planning application later this year.

The deadline date for the return of consent forms to Uisce Éireann has been extended from September 23 to October 7 to provide more time for farmers and landowners to consider the package and get the necessary advice.

Mike Healy, Uisce Éireann Programme Director, said: “We would like to thank the IFA and ICMSA for their input and feedback in advance of our communications to landowners. The voluntary wayleave package issued has greatly benefited from the discussions and negotiations that took place between Uisce Eireann and the farm organisations. This is a major step towards the delivery of this essential infrastructure and follows months of collaborative engagement, and we look forward to further engaging with landowners and communities along the route.

“The need is clear - water supply in the Eastern and Midlands region currently faces major challenges, notably the over-reliance on the River Liffey to supply 1.7 million people in the Greater Dublin Area. With forecasts showing that the region will need 34% more water by 2044, this combination of a growing water supply deficit and lack of supply resilience is simply not sustainable.”

The Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region proposes to abstract water from Parteen Basin, upstream of Parteen Weir on the Lower River Shannon, utilising a maximum of 2% of the long term average flow at Parteen Basin. This water will then be treated near Birdhill in Tipperary before being piped 170km through counties Tipperary, Offaly and Kildare to a termination point reservoir at Peamount in County Dublin, connecting into the Greater Dublin Area water distribution network.