Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all the witnesses. I am from County Limerick. I was a councillor for six years and was then elected to the Dáil. I have been in construction all my life and had elderly parents, God rest them. We are talking about Housing for All and housing for the elderly, but there is no infrastructure in Limerick to build any of the houses the officials are talking about. I will give them a brief synopsis of the situation in County Limerick.

At present, the Government can deliver 53 houses in Limerick city this year. It cannot deliver any houses in County Limerick at present because there is inadequate water. I could deliver 70 houses this year in Croom if I had water supply. I could deliver houses in Hospital if there was sewerage capacity, of which there is none. I could deliver houses in Askeaton, if I had sewerage capacity, which has been waiting for an upgrade, for 40 years. Dromcolliher has been waiting 15 years for a sewerage supply. There is fantastic housing for the elderly in Athlacca. It is a fantastic facility. I was there many times and grew up around there, but there is no capacity to build more. Not everyone lives in the city. People live in County Limerick, in rural towns and villages and in rural areas, but there is no infrastructure because of the failure of previous Governments to invest in infrastructure in the counties.

We are talking about Housing for All, but everything coming out of here seems to be housing for cities. It is not coming for the counties. If we are about Housing for All, then it should be for all.

That means investment needs to be made in infrastructure in the likes of Counties Limerick, Cork and Waterford. Infrastructure is key and that is what Housing for All should involve so that is what I would like to see included in it. We also have people living in towns and villages in rural areas who want to sell their houses and downsize. There is no infrastructure in the countryside so they want to buy smaller sites, build smaller houses and be nearer to their community but the planning authority states the case that if someone has a house then he or she does not need a house and so he or she does not qualify to build a smaller house. If someone is in a rural area then he or she does not qualify for a second house because those are the planning laws.

I welcome everything the Department can do but I am looking for their help when it comes to housing for all people, whether they are in the city or the countryside. The Land Development Agency, LDA, is only investing in infrastructure and housing in Limerick city and unless people live within 15 minutes of the city. That precludes two-thirds of County Limerick, including Newcastle West, which has a population of more than 4,000 people and Kilmallock, which has a population of 3,000. This needs to be assessed county by county. Not everyone is in a local authority house and the biggest problem we have is that we do not have the infrastructure to carry out the fantastic plans the Department has for housing for our elderly people. What can the Department do to address that for the people of County Limerick?