Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That leads me to my next point. I would like to touch on wastewater infrastructure, in particular what our plans are for funding Uisce Éireann. I had not intended to give an example but I will give an example of what we are facing out there when it comes to the building of housing. Cloughjordan is the prime example that I can give of a reasonably sized village in north Tipperary that has not had capacity in its wastewater treatment system for more than 15 years. There is a private estate that has developer-provided infrastructure that, 17 years later, still has not been connected to the mains in respect of some of the houses. New commercial units cannot be connected if they are put into old buildings on the main streets because they never had a wastewater infrastructure connection before. No social housing can be built by Tipperary County Council in Cloughjordan even though there are upwards of 30 to 40 people on the social housing list. In addition, no new private development can be built and we need that for local people to be able to buy houses or rent in Cloughjordan.

There is no timeline from Uisce Éireann as to when there will be investment in this plant. I cannot understand this, given it is more than 15 years since we knew, as a state, that it needed to be done. Obviously, Uisce Éireann was not established at that time. Cloughjordan is not a major town in north Tipperary in terms of numbers and it is not a major city in the region. Ballycommon is another example in north Tipperary of a village where over 30 private houses could be being built at the moment. What sort of funding will be given to Uisce Éireann and in what way is it going to be given to it so that the focus is not entirely on larger towns or cities?

We also need to see that balanced regional development and balanced development within rural areas so that we are keeping the vibrancy to field our teams, keep our schools going or keep our community shops and pubs open. What funding is going to be there for Uisce Éireann particularly for that type of infrastructure in our smaller towns or villages?