Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have to ask the simple question: what happens next month, the month after or the month after that while Irish Water is planning these improvements? The Minister of State mentioned there was an infrastructural deficit and poor maintenance, but I would like to know who is responsible for this. Was it the local authority prior to 2014? Was it a failure on the part of Irish Water to make submissions to planning applications over the past four or five years? Was it a failure on the part of the local authority in approving occupation or commencement orders for planning permissions that had been granted? If the residents who forked out as much as €500,000 for properties in Skerries and who have no water for a sustained period were informed of that, perhaps we might be in a different position. I accept what has been said by the Minister of State, and I accept there are planning issues associated with the infrastructural requirements, but that will not resolve the problem in the short term. Short and long-term resolutions are needed to these issues. The Minister of State has not put the timelines on the record of the House. I would be interested to hear whether they are available to him. He might be able to interject and provide this support to residents in the community.

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