Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)

I thank both bodies for their contributions today. I will start with Uisce Éireann. On a positive note, living in Wicklow, I live beside Vartry and I have seen the huge investment in the water mains distribution and the plant itself. More importantly for Wicklow, I was with Mr. Gleeson when we opened the new wastewater treatment plant in Arklow. As has been said, that was based on a compliance issue. However, while sorting the compliance issue, Uisce Éireann also provided additional growth capacity for Arklow, which was great to see. That is on the positive side.

Mr. Gleeson also mentioned that day his frustration with the planning process for the greater Dublin drainage scheme, and I can associate with that. I have a genuine concern that the common good of people is being overtaken by individuals with regard to the critical infrastructure that is required by both ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann. That is just an observation. Part of that is the time-bound planning process that we are trying to install.

With regard to Uisce Éireann, there are two processes, one being the pre-application process and the other the connection process. Can anything be done from a time point of view to accelerate the 16 weeks in both cases? That is a total of 32 weeks, and there are a number of failures within that as well. That is the first question.