David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recognise the huge investment and amount of work being done by the hard-working people in Irish Water but that does not take away from the fact that there are towns such as Mitchelstown, Midleton and Castlemartyr in my constituency and maybe other towns around the country that are frozen and locked out of housing development because of a lack of infrastructure. Will the Minister of State prioritise those? Has any analysis been undertaken on towns like that across the country where they are locked out. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is listening to this. In some instances the land and developers are available and LIHAF funding has been provided; it is all ready to go and the only thing stopping it is the water infrastructure. No developer will take a chance on building houses - they will not be let by the local authority and rightly so - unless they are guaranteed a connection. They cannot get a connection if the water infrastructure is not up to speed. I ask the Minister of State to have a look at this and to assist and support Irish Water on this. It might not be all about money but there is a feeling in some instances that it might be.

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