Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would need about an hour to go back over all the issues. I will touch on some of them. I have pages of notes here so I will come back to everybody with comments on most of the issues they have raised. I will try to work backwards. There is a common thread between a lot of sites, as stated by Deputy O'Keeffe, in respect of Irish Water trying to reach those sites that are earmarked and so on. Even on a lot of our own sites, there are issues with delays on connections and getting started. We are working with Irish Water on that. The Deputy mentioned Mitchelstown, which was raised with us by Deputy Stanton as well. It is a different issue in terms of investing in the plans and that. As we did not have investment in water infrastructure for many years, we are playing catch-up. There are plans to do that and we will do it and allocate the money. That is one issue. The other issue is the speed of being able to reach the sites that in some cases have houses on them. We are working with Irish Water on that as well. Likewise, we work with other utilities such as the ESB, which has brought in more staff to deal with connections more quickly. It is ongoing and I think we are getting on top of it and will solve it. Deputy O'Keeffe and others have flagged it and we are dealing with it. It is different from the issues the newly-elected Deputy Malcolm Byrne is raising in respect of servicing areas that probably are not on Irish Water's plans. I agree with him on that. It is an issue we have discussed with Cork and other councils when there are towns and villages that we want to see developed in a sustainable way. This needs to be done under Project Ireland 2040, which can and will save rural Ireland. There is a mismatch between Irish Water's initial plans and those of some local authorities. I have made it very clear that we have to join those plans together to get them corrected. We want to find solutions to that as well. We were in Tipperary during the year launching a very good plan they had for rural towns and villages to allow for servicing sites to make them available to locals as well. Deputies may wish to have a look at that. It is a good document. Our Department launched it. We believe in it and will work with them and will find funding to make it happen. The issue is well raised. It is common to other counties as well.

Deputy O'Loughlin has gone but she also raised one-off housing, as have others. I encourage Deputies to check the records on this. There is a perception that Fine Gael is blocking one-off housing and is not for it. There has been an average of 6,000 one-off houses every year for the past three or four years. That is quite a lot. In places like Galway, where one sees a rate of nearly 70% or 80% for one-off houses, that is not sustainable either. We have to get the balance right. Certainly, people have to have one-off houses when they are working their land, farming in their local communities and wanting to look after their families. That is allowed for. However, a lot of people who want to live in rural Ireland would like to live in a village or a town if we can develop it right and make it affordable to live there. We are very much focused on that. I believe we can achieve that through Project Ireland 2040.

I cannot let it pass that Deputy Thomas Byrne mentioned the rail line to Navan. I will try to stay calm on this but I am going to put out some facts. It is absolutely essential that we get that rail line built again, without a doubt. It is part of my job as a local Deputy and as a Minister of State to make it happen. We will get it back on track. The first step is doing a cost-benefit analysis to prove we are entitled to taxpayers' money to build it. That is the way we do everything now through Project Ireland 2040, through capital plans. There is proper research and evidence and I can stand over it. That is the way the Minister, Deputy Donohoe runs this country and that is why the public finances are back in order. The first step is going to happen in the months ahead with a re-examination of the matter. I have no doubt it will put the Navan rail line back on track. Thereafter, we can secure the funding under Project Ireland 2040. If Deputies read the document, they would note the Minister, Deputy Donohoe stated that he will do a review of his capital plan at the end of 2021. That is the opportunity. If the study confirms Navan railway line, we can allocate the money and it can be put back on track there. Again, we did not cancel it. It was never allocated by anybody. The Fianna Fáil Government and previous Governments announced it about ten different times.

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