Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the follow-on remarks on the provision of water treatment facilities in County Kerry. I assure him the Government is committed to ensuring substantial funding is provided to Irish Water, as I outlined in my response. The programme for Government commits to funding Irish Water's capital investment plan for water and wastewater infrastructure on a multi-annual basis. This is very important because we know that in the past, particularly for a local authorities and others, having a deadline whereby money had to be spent by the end of the year does not lead to good value for money. In addition, the National Development Plan 2021-2030 commits to almost €6 billion in capital investment by Irish Water in the period 2021 to 2025, of which more than €4.5 billion will be voted expenditure funding for domestic water services.

We are making progress on the challenges we face, and the Government will continue to deliver strongly on the commitments to water services contained in the programme for Government. The Deputy will understand that the progress of individual wastewater plants and infrastructure is a matter for Irish Water. As we modernise our infrastructure, it is inevitable that capacity constraints will arise in certain locations. The funding provided by this Government is ensuring water and wastewater infrastructure investment is supporting the Government's overall housing targets. I am assured by Irish Water that it is also committed to this agenda and that it will work closely with local authorities to ensure local development plan-led priorities are aligned as much as possible.

It may be helpful to note that Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted by email or phone, the details of which the Deputy will have. I am sorry I do not have individual details on Abbeydorney, Duagh or Castlegregory, but that was not mentioned in the Deputy's original Topical Issue matter and, therefore, I did not have that detail with me today. The Irish Water team is contactable through the dedicated Oireachtas line for those specific queries.

See this speech in context