Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)

I hope next week we will come back with a detailed work schedule from now until the end of this session. I think the email we got about disability has gone to every committee to be taken on board. When it comes to infrastructure, the last thing we want is to put lifts in a hospital that are not wide enough to take electric wheelchairs. I have seen an example of that. They are designed for traditional wheelchairs but people now have electric wheelchairs and they cannot get into the lifts. There is a valid case that we look at disability issues as part of our infrastructure. We will have a work programme for next week. This is our first meeting back after the break and we are catching up on some correspondence.

We had an invitation to the meet the OPW. It is not able to make the meeting next week. It was in contact to ask if it could be postponed. That could be several weeks away. It said it was committed until 22 October with various meetings, some within the Department itself. We will set a date as soon as practical from our point of view. We will note that.

This will be new to members - there is an invitation from Mr. Niall Gleeson, CEO of Uisce Éireann, inviting the committee to visit the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant. Members will recall this was discussed at our meeting. It could be of benefit. It is a €500 million project. It will provide 40% of the county's wastewater treatment. It would be worth our while to make a visit. We have nobody in the slot for next week. It would be a great opportunity.