Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. It is very clear that Irish Water is underfunded and the pipes need to be replaced and updated. It is costing a bomb to keep repairing the breaks that are going on. The break in Farranfore costs, I believe, €35,000 each time it happens. That is a massive sum of money.

I will also highlight that people in other rural areas of Kerry, such as east Kerry, Scartaglin, Castleisland, Lyracrompane and Fieries, cannot afford to pay for group water schemes. The user cost is approximately €8,000 or €10,000 per house but, lo and behold, because Irish Water is stranded for money, it is looking for €2,000 more from each house on top of the group water scheme cost that Kerry County Council charges. This is not fair; it is double charging. People cannot afford it. They have to drop their request or application for a group water scheme because of this additional cost Irish Water has recently demanded of them. It has stopped five, six or seven group water schemes going ahead.

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