Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I acknowledge that there is liaison between developers, the planning section of the local authority and Irish Water. However, engineers in Cork County Council are getting frustrated at this stage. They are reluctant to even consider planning permission applications at the moment because they feel that the commitment from Irish Water has not been copper-fastened. Regarding Glanworth, for example, the local authority is in discussions with a developer and has committed to taking possession of a number of social houses, which is welcome news. It also takes away the fear that the local authority might buy houses on an ad hocbasis. Projects have been shovel ready for two years or more. In 2016, issues relating to wastewater treatment at Mitchelstown and Glanworth came to a head. At the same time, we had good news for Mitchelstown regarding the opening of Ornua's butter plant, which would be a major discharger of effluent.

The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government must provide assurances to Cork County Council that Irish Water's commitment to upgrade these wastewater treatment plants is sufficiently robust to allow developers to go ahead with building houses. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that the commitments given by Irish Water in this regard will be accepted by the local authority. As it stands, the planning section of Cork County Council is reluctant to accept commitments received in correspondence and emails from Irish Water. We are talking here about three lovely developments in Mitchelstown. There are no ghost estates in Mitchelstown but we could end up with ghost estates because houses will be built that will not be occupied. I ask the Minister of State to relay my concerns to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

See this speech in context