The Rural Water Services Conference 2024 took place on Thursday, 12 September in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, County Roscommon. This year's conference theme, ‘Strategies for a Resilient Rural Water Sector’, focused on themes of setting future priorities, planning and managing changes in rural water sector. A range of experts spoke on key areas, including the Multi-annual Rural Water Programme 2024 - 2026, Source Protection, River Basin Management Planning and to end the day the large audience heard from speakers talking about their own experiences, successes and challenges in the GWS sector.
You can download a copy of the conference programme here.
Each presentation can be watched back below and on our YouTube channel:
Session one: Priorities for the Rural Water Sector
Malcolm Noonan TD - Minister of State at the Dept of Housing, Local Government & Heritage (DHLGH) — Opening Ministerial Address
Fintan Towey - Assistant Secretary (DHLGH) — Rural Water Working Group Priorities
Mike Sheil - Senior Executive Engineer, Galway County Council — Managing Rural Water, A Local Authority Perspective
Mark Farrelly - Chief Executive Officer, NFGWS — NFGWS Strategic Plan 2025-2030
Session two: River Basin Management Planning and the GWS Sector
Dónal Cronin - Policy Adviser DHLGH — River Basin Management Plan: Water Action Plan 2024
Róisín Dowd Smith - Catchment Scientist, NFGWS — Integrated Source Protection Planning: A Win-Win for Rural Water
Mairead Whitty - Project Lead for the Water European Innovation Partnership — Introducing the Farming for Water EIP
Session three: Managing GWS Operations
Ross MacDonald - Source Protection Officer, Stranooden GWS — Catchment Solutions
Fionnuala Foy - Manager, Glencorrib GWS - Managing Relationships on a GWS
Gail Fitzgerald - Manager, Ballinabranna GWS - Network Management
Seamus Murphy - Chairperson of Kilkenny West GWS - Governance
Dr John Gallagher - Assistant Professor in Trinity College Dublin - TRACE Project