Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, we can all go and talk to the Minister directly. I have an issue that I wanted to raise here. I have communicated with the current Minister and with his predecessor about it but it is problem that does not seem to fall within the scope of the marching parades against water charges. People in rural Ireland are looking for new group water schemes but are being discommoded because the schemes are deemed to be non-viable due to the cost of setting them up. Will the Minister change the rules and increase the allocation so that these schemes can become viable? The rules were changed in April, with an extra €1,000 given per house up to a maximum of €7,475. A lot of these schemes have been awaiting approval for a number of years. The people involved can neither drink nor wash their clothes. They are willing to pay for water but they need to get schemes up and running. They have paid their contributions, which are sitting in a bank account. They are paying company charges to renew the company accounts every year with the Companies Registration Office. I am wondering if the Minister has any good news for us on this.