Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reasons for the issues with TB is because of moving soil and badgers’ dens. Badgers that have TB move around. When they do so, the disease spreads. That is what is happening. We have experienced this a lot with, for example, the installation of the greenways. In the 12 months after a greenway is installed, people in the relevant area would have had problems with TB. It will be the same with this project.

I have no more questions, but I wish Uisce Éireann well. This is going to be a major piece of infrastructure for the country. Much work needs be done. As the witnesses said, it will have to be done very quickly. We are here to help Uisce Éireann in any way we can, and we will be pushing in Government to try to remove the bottlenecks or anything else that is slowing the process down. We realise that we need a well-functioning Uisce Éireann to provide the water for the houses we need to build during the lifetime of this Government.