Mr. Michael McDermott:

If I could clarify something, I am the project manager for most of these projects. In the last programme we got allocations from the Department for 60 projects covering 70 group water schemes that cover 15,000 households. In the last four or five years, we have had to deal with Covid, Brexit and the war in Ukraine and have tried to manage those 60 projects.

It is not a matter of managing just one project. They all vary in size and valuation but they all take the same amount of time and all have to follow the same process. From dealing with strategic partners to planning, they all have statutory timelines. This particular project has been given as much time as or more time than any one of those other 60 projects. Of those 60 projects, 58 have commenced and are progressing at different stages. In fairness to the Department, we have had to go back. Our initial allocation was €15 million and then another €5 million for Murrisk. At the moment, we are up on €32 million for those 60 projects because we have had to go back so many times looking for additional funding. We have had great co-operation from the Department and Uisce Éireann. It is just the number of projects, the time it takes and the hurdles you come up against sometimes. The environment and environmental legislation are playing a huge part in all these projects. Once upon a time, we never had to do a study or planning for any of these. That is coming more and more into play. We are trying as much as we can to progress all these projects at any one time, but they number 60 and it takes a bit of work.