Mayo Sinn Féin TD says Newport cannot wait until 2030 for treatment plant upgrade

Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway Walsh has described as 'outrageous' the timeline to deliver the Newport Wastewater Treatment Plant which will not be completed until 2030 at the earliest.

Raw sewage from the existing treatment plant in Newport continues to flow into Clew Bay and according to a recent EPA report, it is not expected to be upgraded by Uisce Éireann until 2030.

Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh claimed that the government’s failure to end the outflow of raw sewage at Clew Bay is damaging tourism, trade and putting people’s health at risk.

“I have been in contact with Uisce Éireann numerous times regarding the construction of the Newport Wastewater Treatment plant. Earlier this month Uisce Éireann confirmed to me that the long awaited works will not be delivered until 2030.

“This is outrageous. There have been years of delays and false dawns regarding this urgent scheme. It is not good enough at all that effluent continues to drain into the bay,” she said.

Newport was one of 16 towns and villages across Ireland highlighted in the EPA report where raw sewage discharges daily because their public sewers were not connected to treatment plants.

The Erris-based TD and Sinn Féin spokesperson on Public Expenditure and Reform said that earlier this year Sinn Féin raised the situation in the European Parliament and following this it came to light that Uisce Éireann had failed to submit its third River Basin Management Plan to the European Commission.

“Shamefully this has led to Ireland being referred to the European Court of Justice in February of this year,” she said.

“The reality is that Newport is now the only town in Mayo where raw sewerage is permitted to leak into the waterways.

“Across the state the Government has failed to stop sewage dumping at 16 locations. This is a serious infrastructure deficit that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have presided over for decades. It is absolutely foul, unhealthy and bad for business.

“It’s not a new problem, the Government has been aware of it for decades yet they have failed to get it resolved. They know what the problem is and the solution. However, Uisce Éireann have confirmed to me that the Newport Wastewater Treatment Plant is only at the ‘Preliminary Business Case’ stage.

“This needs to be prioritised by the incoming government. I believe that it will take a change of government for this project to get the momentum required to deliver it in the fastest time frame possible,” Deputy Conway-Walsh concluded.