Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

I just wish to reiterate Irish Water's position in terms of the CRU. The office is independent but its job is to implement the policy recommended by the Oireachtas joint committee which was enacted in the Water Services Act.

As the only Member of the current Oireachtas with a declared disability, I could ask whether the Department has met the 6% requirement for employment of people with disabilities in accordance with public service obligations. I could also ask how many of the senior management have a declared disability. I will not do so because it is not appropriate to do it, and it is certainly not appropriate to embarrass public servants who are just doing their job. I very much distance myself from what happened earlier.

That said, I have a couple of short questions. Will the witnesses from Irish Water talk me through how they deal with planning applications? I know of a case in Clare where a hotelier is applying for additional accommodation that is badly needed in a tourism area. The council is seeking further information because of a concern relating to overcapacity in water and sewage. The architect and agent on behalf of the client contacted Irish Water in November and as of yesterday that party has received neither an acknowledgement nor even a reference number with which to follow up the query and try to come back with a response to Clare County Council. Consent by or an agreement with Irish Water is necessary in the case. A period where further information is requested is allowed for six months and following that the application would become invalid. This does not really give people much time to deal with an application. We are now in the middle of February and the further information was sought last October. What is the process and how does Irish Water handle this type of query? Is it appropriate that an agent would not even get an acknowledgement from Irish Water going back to last November?