PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)

I would very much appreciate that. Perhaps the committee could engage with the generation business because this site has been left in limbo for many years. It is an imposing site overlooking south Galway and the people of south Galway are anxious to know the long-term plans for it.

Moving to Uisce Éireann, as I mentioned, I formerly represented the Gort-Kinvara local electoral area on Galway County Council for six years. In that local electoral area, there are 14 settlements, of which only two, namely, Gort and Kinvara, are serviced with municipal wastewater treatment facilities. Gort has reached capacity. As such, an electoral area that is geographically almost as large as County Louth and is in a rent pressure zone has one settlement with capacity for development in an housing emergency. That leaves Kilcolgan, Ardrahan, Laban, Ballinderreen, Craughwell and Clarinbridge, all long-standing villages, completely closed to development. More than two years ago, Craughwell and Clarinbridge were selected as part of the pilot scheme to be serviced with municipal wastewater treatment facilities. The application was made at my request, as the local representative at the time. They were selected. To date, I have not heard one word of progress on either of those sites. Local people and the local authority are none the wiser as to any progress that has been made with site selections, plans, etc., in those two settlements since that money was allocated. We are talking about a large amount of money that was allocated a number of years ago. What are the plans for servicing Craughwell and Clarinbridge? How soon are those plans going to reach fruition?

My next questions are on the other unserviced settlements, namely, Kilcolgan, Ardrahan, Laban and Ballinderreen. Outside of my electoral area, large villages like Abbeyknockmoy and Corofin are also unserviced. Bear in mind we have a housing crisis and these are in a rent pressure zone with massive potential for housing development. These settlements have been closed to development since 2009. No planning application has been granted due to the lack of wastewater infrastructure. What are the plans for those? How soon will Galway County Council be in a position to grant planning permission for housing developments in these settlements.