Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy has asked the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to carry out a review of Irish Water's Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project before decides whether to give his green light to construction.

The review and the Minister's decision relate to Government spending on the investment, and are separate from the planning permission process. The CRU is the State's independent regulator for the energy and water sectors.

The 170km pipeline proposed by Irish Water would bring water from the river Shannon's Parteen basin to the capital.

Map of the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project.

IFA environment chair Thomas Cooney said it was important for the review to assess the need for the pipe against other options.

"This is a huge imposition on the 500 landowners along the way," Cooney told the Irish Farmers Journal, taking a up a 50m-wide corridor during construction and leaving permanent infrastructure such as sluice valves in the long term.

"It's like an underground motorway and we'd want to make sure it's absolutely needed," Cooney added, hoping for an opportunity for farmers to make submissions.

We are confident that Irish Water's plans will not stand up to proper scrutiny

Liam Minehan, who farms on the route of the proposed pipeline in Co Tipperary and participates in the opposition group Fight the Pipe, said the group had been looking for a review for a long time and hoped it would be fully independent.

"We are confident that Irish Water's plans will not stand up to proper scrutiny," Minehan said.

A statement from the Department of Housing said the review was needed "given the scale and importance of the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project and recognising the CRU’s statutory role as independent economic regulator of Irish Water".

Irish Water has described the project as "the option which delivers the widest benefit to the greatest number of people, with the least environmental impact and in the most cost-effective manner".

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€1.3bn plan to draw water from river Shannon to Dublin