Uisce Eireann is undertaking two of its biggest infrastructure projects in Dublin and the midlands. Illustration: Paul Scott

News that the Greater Dublin Drainage scheme could still be seven years away is not just a setback for Uisce Éireann, but also for Government efforts to tackle the chronic housing shortage.

One of two projects [see panel] that will be the biggest tests yet of the State’s newest utility, the Dublin scheme aims to boost the capital’s wastewater treatment facilities, which are already at full capacity. Among other things, Uisce Éireann says it will support housing growth.

Niall Gleeson, its chief executive, told the Dáil’s Committee on Public Accounts on Thursday that delays to the Dublin scheme and the east and midlands water supply project “will have serious consequences for the delivery of housing and broader economic development”.

In September, Wild Irish Defence asked the High Court to review An Coimisiún Pleanála’s decision to grant the €1.5 billion Dublin scheme planning permission. This will be the second judicial review of the project, first proposed in 2018, and could block it.

While this was happening, the utility agreed a voluntary wayleave scheme with the Irish Farmers’ Association and Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association to get access to land so it can lay 170km of pipes from Parteen, Co Tipperary, to Peamount, Co Dublin.

[ Dublin drainage project will not be operational before 2032 ‘at best’, says Uisce ÉireannOpens in new window ]

That could help it tackle one challenge facing the east and midlands supply plan, which aims to ship water from the river Shannon to regions that need it most. The company will seek permission within weeks from An Coimisiún Pleanála for what will be will be one of the State’s biggest ever infrastructure schemes.

Water, or rather the l