€2bn plan to dig up 60km of Cork streets to fix wastewater system

Uisce Éireann has warned that up to 60 km of busy streets in Cork City will need to be excavated and around €2 billion invested to bring the city’s wastewater treatment network into compliance.

The European Commission referred Ireland to the Court of Justice of the European Union in December 2025, seeking fines of over €250 million for breaching the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The court is considering daily penalties of €16,000 to €100,000, back‑dated to 2019, which could total up to €36 million per year and would be borne by the State.

At the Public Accounts Committee, Sean Laffey, Uisce Éireann’s director of asset management, said the fines relate to Cork’s non‑compliant network and that the water‑treatment plants are expected to be fixed by the end of the year, though some issues remain.

Laffey outlined a €2 billion estimate for remedial works, involving the likely excavation of 50‑60 km of central city streets, and said the utility is negotiating a phased remediation plan with the government and the court to secure additional time.

Fianna Fáil PAC member Seamus McGrath called for a swift upgrade, warning that public funds should not be diverted to pay fines.

Uisce Éireann clarified that the €2 billion figure reflects the potential scale of the required programme, not funding already allocated to a single project.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Selim Karadayı / Pexels.