Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That does not answer the specific question I asked. Can the Minister ring-fence money to be spent specifically on wastewater facilities in our smaller towns and villages? It is not that it is not a priority for Irish Water. It has a limited budget and larger towns to look after. It has to address issues where it is non-compliant. The company is not getting to the small towns and villages. The town and village renewal scheme is great and creates fantastic public open spaces. However, those villages also need to grow. They cannot grow unless the critical infrastructure relating to water and wastewater is in place. The importance of investing in this critical infrastructure for our smaller towns with populations of less than 5,000 and our larger villages has not been adequately highlighted.

Irish Water also has a role to play in the housing crisis. It would be much easier in some cases to get 20 houses in each village across the country.