Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

There is a focus on water services in the plan, which is welcome. Again, going back to my constituency we have a lot of housing development that is being held up or stalled because so many towns and villages do not have adequate capacity in terms of wastewater and so on. On 70% of the lands in County Galway that are currently zoned for housing development we cannot have new homes built there because of the lack of vital infrastructure. I will raise a specific case. Three years ago, investment was announced for two villages, namely Craughwell and Clarinbridge, but there has not been any movement since. I understand the Department of housing recently wrote to Galway County Council asking if the council can meet its required 15% co-funding contribution towards the projects and that is estimated to be about €5 million, which is money Galway County Council does not have. This is another barrier to delivery, even if there is significant national funding available. Is the Minister aware of this co-funding contribution requirement on the local authorities? Has he engaged with the Department of housing on this matter?