MORE THAN €1 billion raised in development levies is "languishing unspent" in local authority accounts because the Department of the Environment is not providing matching funding for items such as water services, the Labour Party has claimed.
The accusation, from Labour Party environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy, follows the publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's Water Quality Report 2004 to 2006, which found that much of Ireland's water is not improving fast enough to meet EU standards.
The report also provoked a strong response from Fine Gael, whose environment spokesman, Phil Hogan, said it was "totally unacceptable that after 15 years of major development, the quality of our water is still unsatisfactory".
Larry Stapleton, director of the EPA Office of Environmental Assessment, said improvements in water quality between 2004 and 2006 were "not sufficient to meet the requirement of having good status in all waters by 2015, as required by the Water Framework Directive."
Mr Stapleton added that "extensive measures will be required to achieve this target".
Commenting on the report, Ms Tuffy said it was clear that many problems identified with water and waste-water plants arose because development had been allowed to outpace any increase in capacity. She said the Minister "should accelerate investment in water-treatment facilities".
A spokesman for the Minister said the issue of money languishing unspent in local authority accounts was investigated and found to be without foundation.
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