Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is an interesting question. I have dealings with Irish Water on a number of different fronts. The CRU also monitors everything we do. We have an overarching policy framework to be met with capital funding that I have to negotiate to get for the body each year or on a multi-annual funded basis, depending on the programme. It then spends that according to the policies we put in place. At a strategic level, wastewater is a priority. As a result between 2019 and 2024, Irish Water will spend approximately €6.1 billion, one third of which will go on wastewater. However, it is for Irish Water to decide where the wastewater priorities are depending on the assets it has and also engaging with local authorities as to what their priorities are. I do not direct it in that regard; I direct it at the strategic level about the quantity of money that should be spent in this area and how important it is.

Obviously when building houses and communities, we need to ensure the infrastructure is in place. There must, therefore, be alignment between what I am trying to do as Minister responsible for housing and as Minister responsible for Irish Water. We have put in resources in both areas to ensure that one side of Government is talking to the other. As we build more homes, the infrastructure is being put in place using joined-up thinking to manage the phasing.

I am trying to remember this correctly. When I last spoke to people in Irish Water on the housing side of the brief, they mentioned a request in the pipeline for 130,000 new connections. That tallies with something I heard from the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, which indicated its professional firms are working on plans for 135,000 homes. This indicates the scale of new housing in the system and being planned for. That will materialise over the coming years.