Mr. Eddie Taaffe:

There are a couple of issues with that. The first is that serviced sites on the edges of towns in residentially zoned lands can be problematic to deliver because, by definition, they do not meet the density guidelines for that residential land because you are selling an individual small plot. That has proved problematic. In smaller towns and villages, in Wexford, for example, the issue is that we do not have wastewater capacity in a lot of those areas. We are looking at a model whereby we can allow serviced sites to be sold on the edges of smaller towns and larger villages that have their own individual wastewater treatment systems. We are working up a number of those at the moment.

A subsidy is available, up to a maximum of €30,000 per site, under the croí cónaithe scheme. We think that is a way of not letting perfection get in the way of something that is good. Where there is no wastewater treatment, it is a way of servicing individual sites on the edge of small towns and large villages. It is problematic to sell serviced sites in urban areas because of the density guidelines. When you are selling individual plots, it is hard to do it. It is hard to make it work financially and get a site that is cost-effective for people, even with the €30,000 subsidy. There are a few issues with it that are more technical rather than financial but local authorities are starting to do it. We are starting to look at it in Wexford.

What we have found from talking to other local authorities is that it takes a while to sell these, believe it or not, for a myriad of reasons, including the wastewater issue, but we hope to do more of it. We are looking at three schemes in Wexford. We are just testing the ground on them to see how they actually sell, if you like, and the level of interest in them. It is something we could be doing more of and it could be a solution to getting residential development in rural Ireland, where wastewater is an issue. Where there is no plant or capacity in the plant, we should be looking at individual wastewater treatment systems.