Public consultation on the Significant Water Management Issues for the fourth cycle Water Action Plan 2028-2033

Each EU Member State reviews and updates their River Basin Management Plans every six years and sets out a roadmap of actions to protect and improve the water environment as required under the Water Framework Directive.

As part of the process, Member States are required to hold a public consultation on the Significant Water Management Issues (SWMI) identified in their catchments, at least two years before the publication and implementation of a new River Basin Management Plan, which for Ireland is being called the Water Action Plan (2028-2033).

The objective of the SWMI process, including the public consultation process, is to identify the challenges and pressures on our water environment, to inform the preparation of the Water Action Plan (2028-2033) and in particular, the Programme of Measures that will be developed to help address the pressures on our water quality.

The Significant Water Management Issues for the Water Action Plan 2028 – 2033 is now available for public consultation.

Ireland is currently in the early stages of preparing the fourth cycle Water Action Plan. As part of this public consultation process we are publishing a consultation document that sets out our understanding of the Significant Water Management Issues that need to be addressed in the period 2028 – 2033.

The purpose of this consultation is to gather your submissions, observations and comments on what are considered to be the significant water management issues for Ireland which should be addressed in the next Water Action Plan.

You are invited to provide your views on the significant issues highlighted in the consultation document, or suggest any additional issues that may need to be addressed in the fourth Water Action Plan.

In seeking your views on the Significant Water Management Issues and their potential solutions, we have set out a number of questions in relation to each of the areas outlined in the consultation document, a copy of which is available for download in the documents section of this web page.

By responding, you will be helping to shape the overall management of the water environment, as the information gathered will help influence the content of the draft Water Action Plan which is due to be published by December 2026.

A short, targeted online questionnaire has been developed to facilitate responses to some of the key questions raised in the consultation document, which can be completed and submitted at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/SWMI_WAP_2028-2033

The online questionnaire will allow you to make your comments more effectively, while helping us to gather and summarise responses quickly and accurately.

However, if you would like to respond in another way, a consultation response template can be downloaded from the link in the documents section of this web page. Completed templates should be emailed to WAUConsultation@housing.gov.ie

Alternatively, responses can be made in writing to:

Water Advisory Unit

Water Action Plan SWMI Consultation

Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage

Custom House

Dublin 1

D01 W6X0

You do not have to respond to every question in the consultation. If you have a specific area of interest, you are free to respond to just those questions.

The consultation period closes at 5.00pm on 19 June 2026.

Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged but it will not be possible to issue individual responses.

• Public Consultation Document – Significant Water Management Issues
• Consultation Response Template
• Privacy Statement

All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007-2014. Submissions are also subject to Data Protection legislation.

Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission (other than your name or contact details). It will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

The information provided by respondents will be used in order to shape the content and focus of the Water Action Plan 2028 - 2033.

Submissions and observations received will be made available on the Department’s website, unless otherwise requested. In any event, all submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, Access to Information on the Environment Regulations and Data Protection legislation. See also the terms and conditions above.