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

The oversight I am talking about is already in place. The local authorities were doing this in the first place. Engineering services in local authorities can oversee the developer-led projects within their own counties. I am talking about smaller developments where existing systems can be upgraded and then give them back to Uisce Éireann with the upgraded systems in place. We have to look at quality control. The local authorities have recognised, competent contractors that have been doing this work. This would assist the Minister in his big-picture delivery, which we all want to see.

I could sit here and criticise, but that only gets us so far. I am here to help the Minister to achieve more housing delivery by way of the experienced people we have around the country. The qualifications and criteria set out in the legislation need to be tweaked to allow them to help him and ensure we get more delivery of houses in areas that are not even on the Department's radar. I mentioned Croom. If the water was separated in Croom alone, we could open up the town, which is only 12 minutes from Limerick city, to having another 150 houses built. That would have a big impact in enabling people to live outside the city and commute in and out. Moreover, by raising the population within the area, we could also look at delivering better transport infrastructure to support it.