Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water is best placed to decide on the allocation of funding and the timelines for its projects. I am very glad we have stopped pumping raw sewage into Cork Harbour, which was a huge problem. That had to be the first priority in the city. It was an immediate scandal that had to be addressed. Beyond that, sewage treatment is a real issue. Irish Water got significant additional funding in the national development plan.

In terms of the housing crisis we must get our transport and water infrastructure in place in advance of the housing. Transport and infrastructure-led development is the way we need to go. If there are housing solutions involved, I would have thought that would be high up on Irish Water's priority list.

On the issue of Inland Fisheries Ireland, we have a serious issue with water quality in this country. Within living memory, over the space of 40 years, this country has gone from having 500 pristine river systems down to 20. We have to stop that. We cannot be out trading as an Origin Green country when our water is polluted. The fisheries boards are critical in terms of providing warning signals that our water quality is not right.

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