Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, particularly for the residents of the area and those who stand to benefit from the Kilcummin sewerage scheme. The sanctioning of the scheme is important. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, was very keen to allocate substantial resources to waste water treatment plants and to water infrastructure more generally because it is an important infrastructure for house construction as well as for water quality. It has been a long journey, as the Deputy has outlined, but the scheme has now been sanctioned. It has got the green light. The Deputy has said that the tenders will go out in 2022. I read about this in terms of the exclusion of 40 houses from the tender. I think it was raised at Kerry County Council recently or by local councillors. I will engage with the Minister and Oireachtas Members. I know that the Minister, Deputy Foley, will also be interested in this. We will talk to Irish Water to get submissions from the residents and see if something can be done here because when we put in infrastructure we want to make it comprehensive. We do not want to have to go back again in a few years' time to upgrade or redo it. I will have the matter investigated. I had not realised the Deputy was raising this specific issue today. Generally, we are allocating a lot of resources to our water infrastructure. We want to see good jobs done in terms of quality and in terms of covering as wide an area as possible.

See this speech in context