John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses. While people will focus, understandably, on the issues that arose in Wexford and Dublin, this meeting request was made before that. It is important that we focus as well on infrastructure and constraints, particularly with reference to the small towns and villages growth programme which is geared at delivering in areas of growth potential which otherwise would not be a priority for Irish Water, given the understandable focus on big urban delivery schemes. However, investment in this area is key if we are going to meet the targets in Housing for All. Connections is a key barrier that is raised with me consistently by stakeholders in the construction sector. Some €97.5 million has been approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, for the scheme and councils across the country were asked to prioritise their areas of investment. Realistically, we are only looking at the first priority area in most of the counties, including in Waterford. The frustration is with the glacial speed at which these projects are moving.

I will give a local example, not to be parochial but because it speaks to the wider issue. There is a developer in Waterford who is ready to break ground today for 19 family homes in Lemybrien in County Waterford, but there are issues and constraints with water and wastewater that have been identified by Irish Water. These issues were identified in July 2019. It was shown that studies and tests needed to be carried out with regard to both water and wastewater, which are still not completed. I was assured they would be completed during the summer, and now I am assured they will be conducted in October. I accept the bona fides of people in that regard. However, with regard to what needs to happen here, and this is a direct question for Mr. Gleeson, is there a resource issue in this area? Second, can he reallocate funding across to this area so we can progress with the design of the priority two, three and four areas in the local authority? Then they would be shovel-ready projects and we are not looking at developing designs two years hence which ultimately will not go through the planning process, funding phase and build phase until five years' time. Can we get many of them progressed at design stage if we front-load money into the scheme, to speed up the process both in the scheme in Lemybrien and in other areas? Can Irish Water do tenders for such schemes in tandem with the planning process so we can look at streamlining the process? It is a massive constraint, and it will be over the next number of years if we do not grasp this nettle.