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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Members of Clare County Council have been informed that 25 villages across the county have been identified following an audit which was carried out by the local authority
More than two dozen villages across Clare do not currently have any functioning sewerage or waste-water system, new figures have revealed.
Members of Clare County Council have been informed that 25 villages across the county have been identified following an audit which was carried out by the local authority.
In a formal Notice of Motion submitted ahead of the May meeting of the council, Councillor Rita McInerney, sought update on the current status and progress of the Cooraclare and Broadford Wastewater Treatment Schemes, including timelines for delivery, funding sources and any obstacles to implementation.
Hoping for the Council to liaise with Uisce Éireann, the Fianna Fail Councillor requested a list of all towns and villages in County Clare that currently have a wastewater treatment system, with the remaining capacity in each system for additional housing or commercial units, be declared as well as a list of towns and villages in the county that do not have a wastewater treatment system.
Cllr McInerney also asked if "a priority list exists" regarding areas which are proposed for future schemes and in what sequence they are to be progressed
Additionally, she requested that Clare County Council outlines the government funding allocations for the county in 2024 and 2025 for water and wastewater projects either through Clare County Council or Uisce Éireann.
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In a written reply, Senior Engineer Cyril Feeney said the Council is working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Uisce Eireann to progress the Cooraclare and Broadford Wastewater Treatment Schemes. Mr Feeney said they have now agreed to the final scoping, costing and co-funding requirements based on 2025 estimates.
However, due to an overall increase in costs across all the local authority schemes under the 'Measure A8 Programme', there is now a requirement for the Department to seek additional funding at government level. This, Mr Feeney explained, means Clare County Council are currently required to provide 15% of the funding for the project with the remaining 85% of the funding from the Department.
Whilst the Council is no longer the Water Services authority for the provision of wastewater services in Clare, the Wastewater, the Treatment Capacity Register has indicated that five existing Wastewater Treatment Plants in Clare have no spare capacity. There are located in in Clareabbey, Miltown Malbay, Kilkee, Kildysert and Kilmihil.
As of December 2024, six areas have been identified as potentially having spare capacity while 23 have available spare capacity. In total, 14 Wastewater Treatment Plants have projects either planned or underway with Uisce Éireann.
The following villages, defined in the County Development Plan, that have localised networks, and in most cases small treatment plants, that serve small local groups of either publicly built houses or developer-built housing estates but do not have extensive publicly accessible sewer networks or a municipal wastewater treatment plan are:
Large villages:
Small villages:
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The following villages, also defined in the County Development Plan, have no sewerage systems, other than in some cases very small developer-built systems not yet in the Council’s or Uisce Éireann’s charge:
Large villages:
Small villages:
In his written reply to Cllr McInerney's motion, Cyril Feeney said, "There is currently no priority list for future investment in wastewater infrastructure as that investment now comes under the remit of Uisce Eireann. We have no visibility yet of Uisce Eireann’s Capital Investment Plan 2024-2029. Likewise it is premature to consider any future priority list for schemes under the 'Measure A8' pilot project as the qualifying criteria outlined by the Department could alter depending on the outcome of the current scheme.
"Uisce Eireann has confirmed that during the previous capital investment programme from 2014-2024, they have invested approximately €75 million in water and wastewater projects in county Clare. Due to the cyclical 5-year nature of their capital investment cycle they are unable to provide an estimate for 2025."
Clare County Council was allocated funding under the Multi Annual Rural Water Programme (2024-2026) of €9.1 million with a further yearly allocation of €1.85 million for subsidies to existing schemes and board well grants
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