Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to the investment in Limerick but, as I said, it is like a "once upon a time" story. The Minister is talking about everything but 73% of towns and villages have no infrastructure, sewerage or adequate water supplies while €4.5 billion is spent in Dublin. There are 25 other counties in the Republic of Ireland and the Government is spending billions in Dublin and throwing crumbs out to the other counties in the country. People will not be able to work in the areas the Minister is talking about. Askeaton has been waiting for a sewerage plant for 30 years. Oola has been waiting for a sewerage plant for 10 years. Twenty-one houses were built in Kilfinane and five of them had to go onto a private on-site sewerage system because there is no capacity.

I love to see the Minister's vision and hear him tell his stories but reality is reality. The 2040 plan is going to stop people who are building one-off houses and installing their own top of the range sewerage plants that cost €10,000. Such people pay €5,000 to the local authorities because the Government has not seen the vision. The 2040 plan would be a good plan if there was the infrastructure in Limerick and across Ireland.

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