Uisce Éireann has commenced construction on a €23m upgrade of Ballymahon Wastewater Treatment Plant, a scheme that will almost double treatment capacity in the Co Longford town and clear a constraint that has been limiting new housing development.

Uisce Éireann, Ireland's national water utility, is delivering the project as part of its wider €10.2bn national investment programme for 2025-2029, separate from the Government's newer €2bn accelerated growth fund targeting 72 priority towns and cities.

The upgrade will increase the plant's population equivalent capacity from 2,125 to 4,150, delivering new infrastructure and advanced treatment technology, a solar array for more energy-efficient operations, and improved compliance with Irish and EU environmental standards, while helping protect water quality in the River Inny.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne said the investment would provide the capacity needed to support future development and economic growth in Ballymahon while protecting the local environment, calling it an important step in meeting the town's housing needs for years to come.

The scheme is valued at €23m (£19.6m); construction is under way and expected to complete by the end of 2029.

This scheme illustrates the routine, unglamorous tier of capital works sitting beneath Uisce Éireann's headline-grabbing funding announcements, the kind of steady base-load demand contractors can rely on regardless of which political announcement is current.

Uisce Éireann has secured €10.2bn under the National Development Plan for 2025-2029, on top of which the Government approved a further €2bn in July 2026, split between €1.7bn for 72 priority growth locations and €300m for towns and villages with populations under 2,000, specifically to unlock 300,000 new homes by 2030.

Ballymahon does not appear among those 72 headline priority locations, meaning this project is being delivered through Uisce Éireann's existing rolling capital programme rather than the newer, more politically visible funding stream.

For the sector, contractors bidding for this tier of water infrastructure work need to track Uisce Éireann's existing capital programme directly rather than relying solely on higher-profile funding announcements, since a meaningful share of wastewater capacity upgrades will continue to come from that base programme rather than the headline growth fund.

Source: Water Magazine / Government of Ireland