Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)

I thank both organisations for their presentations. It is good to see the impact they have had and will have in the future.

Infrastructure is a major concern of mine and it is my honest belief that it is holding up housing development in a major way in certain areas. The lack of public wastewater systems in many communities is strangling them, and getting them is a pipe dream. Communities in County Clare have been told that there are no plans to develop wastewater treatment systems for their villages. Effectively, this is a death sentence in many ways for these settlements. We know there are certified modular wastewater treatment systems available that can and do support housing developments. Do the witnesses see these modular systems as viable alternatives that can support smaller housing schemes in settlements across the country that either have no system in place or have no capacity in existing systems, which is also a major concern? Would the LDA and the Housing Agency consider supporting housing projects that rely on these types of system for development? It is important that these treatment systems be taken over.