James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. As a TD who comes from a rural constituency, I am acutely aware of the necessity for providing water supports in rural Ireland for our villages and provincial towns. We are providing record funding to Uisce Éireann this year. It has increased from €300 million a year to €2.2 billion this year. We will be providing it with even more funding under the national development plan.

In particular, we are providing ring-fenced funding for the delivery of housing because that has been a challenge to date and we want to ensure the funding we are providing to Uisce Éireann is for the delivery of housing in our cities and towns while also facilitating housing in our rural areas. One of the critical issues in that regard is facilitating developer-led wastewater treatment schemes so they can help deliver the capacity we need, albeit overseen, accredited and ultimately taken over by Uisce Éireann. With the knowledge and expertise we have, we can do that in a safe and structured manner. The developers who can move quickly and are able to provide facilities to advance our housing delivery are really important.