Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests here today. I have a couple of questions about average connection times for the ESB and for Uisce Éireann. Deputy Ó Cuív mentioned the 16 weeks for connection with Uisce Éireann but can we get specific dates in relation to average connection and especially for rural once-off houses? What are the average connection times at the moment for the ESB and Uisce Éireann? Related to that, is there a contact details for public representatives to inquire about that as well? It is very important if something comes up on a regular basis.

Going back to the initial opening statement by the Chair in relation to rural villages, small villages and wastewater connections. This has been a huge problem in the area where I live in south Kildare. When I was a councillor, it came up regularly. I want to put a question to our guests as well. What is the timeframe for a number of them? I want to be parochial about this, specifically in the context of the Allenwood wastewater network improvement scheme in county Kildare. We had a very positive reply from Uisce Éireann last week that the connection would start in the second quarter. Can we get confirmation that this is going to happen? We have had a number of outages in that particular area of county Kildare in the recent past. A number of schools have had to close as result of that, which is obviously not good. If that confirmation could be given, it would be appreciated.

In south Kildare, in the villages of Timolin and Moone, as the chair as referenced, there is raw sewage running down the streets. This is not acceptable. What are Irish Water and the Departments doing to combat that? It is essential for these villages and their futures that this is combatted as quickly as possible.

I must also mention the sceptic tank grant. I am aware that this comes under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, but I regularly get queries about it. The grant was increased in January. Perhaps I could get a comment from Uisce Éireann on the importance of that. Obviously there are water courses and so on all around and throughout rural Ireland that may or may not be affected by septic tanks and the upgrading of such. I know this is not directly for our guests because it relates to housing, but I would like to hear their views on the importance of that grant and how it should be rolled out as much as possible to rural Ireland. I welcome the increase in the amount involved.