Ms Maria Graham:

It is one of the focuses of the national planning framework and flows into the local authority plans. That alignment with the national development plan is to ensure that there is servicing and the servicing of land is prioritised in the areas that need to grow. On a broad Project Ireland level, that is something the Secretary General group looks at.

Specifically on Irish Water, following on from Housing for All, it has established a unit to look after housing that draws across its programmes. It looks at the growth areas. It produced wastewater and water capacity to see where there was capacity and focused on delivery, the connections and the timeliness of connections. Irish Water has been doing quite a bit of work with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities in order to ensure its investment programmes align with what we need under Housing for All.

In 2022, the capital investment for Irish Water will go up by 20%. From what the Secretary General said, Irish Water has been in to talk to the high-level group twice.