Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will finish on Irish Water, which is a national utility. Going back five years, before the utility was put into place or established, the places I have mentioned were on a list of wastewater treatment plants to be built by the local authorities. Once Irish Water came into being, however, what happened was that the focus of the company changed to carrying out projects in areas where those responsible see potential large growth. They are looking at the east coast and the cities. They are looking at firefighting and pollution into the sea in different places. That takes up all the money they have and they do not even have enough money to do those things.

Houses have been built that do not have proper sewerage. There are two estates in Athenry where the wastewater is not working and they cannot connect to the treatment plant because the network has not yet been built out and will not be there for another four years. There is something amiss in what we are doing.

If we continue with our current policies regarding Irish Water and the Land Development Agency, we will create more problems for Dublin, rural areas and the regions because we will actually intensify the lack of balance that is there. I think Deputy Boyd Barrett said last week that it would cost someone €600,000 to buy a house in Dublin where I could give someone a beautiful house in the regions for €275,000. It is as much a problem for the people living in Dublin as it is for the people living in the west, south or north. I have a fear of the Land Development Agency becoming this big body dealing with big stuff and forgetting about the real stuff that would matter to the regions.