Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water was allocated a fund for the greater Dublin area drainage project of €410 million and €294 million for the water supply project. The funding for these two projects was ring-fenced for the duration of Irish Water's third revenue control period, RC3, although the company could not access the fund for diversion of projects. Irish Water is now proposing that the ring-fenced funding be used broadly across the portfolio to absorb the impact of inflationary pressure, given that the money will not be utilised for the drainage or water supply project within the revenue control period as originally intended.

I refer to rural areas. There was €410 million for the greater Dublin area and €294 million for the water supply project which is to bring water from the Shannon Estuary to Dublin. How many sewerage systems in the counties could be upgraded with this money? People in Askeaton have been waiting for 36 years now for an upgrade and there is water going into the Shannon. There is water going from Drumcolliher to the Deel and reports show that the State is the biggest polluter in the country through the local authorities. It is not the farmers or anyone else. The local authorities are the biggest polluters.

In my own investigations in Limerick, I found out that no major investment will be made in the county's sewerage plants to allow for extra capacity. Only the upgrade of the existing capacity of sewerage systems is provided for. I just mentioned Drumcolliher and Askeaton. Oola is another case. I will take the Minister of State around the county and show him where the local authority is polluting. That means I cannot build houses in these areas for people to return home because there is no infrastructure. The money the Government is allocating for the likes of the Dublin area could be redeployed into all the counties. I have heard other speakers saying this. Infrastructure in all these towns and villages could be upgraded but the Government is making an allocation of €704 million for Dublin. If we had the proper infrastructure, we would have the proper houses being built and our schools, businesses and everything else would be sustainable.

All I am hearing tonight is stories about the shortfall of water and sewerage capacity around the country and Deputies looking for funding to fix sewerage and water systems to provide an adequate water supply. All the Minister of State is telling us is that existing systems will be upgraded with no additional capacity and there is no money to do anything else. We are waiting for a water supply to build 100 houses in Croom. Eight months ago, we had Irish Water before a committee at which its representatives guaranteed me we would have letters for the contractors to get those houses built. That letter is only coming this week. We waited eight months to get a letter to say we would have water in Croom to build 100 houses, a nursing home and a crèche. These projects were held up for 12 months as waited for a letter to say there would be adequate water in Croom. Croom Medical is expanding and adding 80 jobs. Its biggest concern is how it will get people into these jobs because of the lack of housing in the area. We have 100 houses that would help that business be sustainable because people could move to the likes of Croom, which is a 15-minute commute from Limerick city. That is how important it is to get funds into local areas so we can build our businesses.

People in rural areas pay the highest transport costs because there is no industry in their areas due to a lack of infrastructure. If Covid has taught us anything, it is that the farming sector in these areas are the people who kept food on our tables. Some of these farmers could not get adequate water even for the cattle they were trying to feed because of the lack of infrastructure, yet it was okay for the Government to try to allocate €704 million to bring water to Dublin from the Shannon. Is there any other county in Ireland bar Dublin?

Are the people in every other county in this country as important as the people in Dublin? The problem is the Government overpopulated Dublin to the point where it is now bursting at the seams. The grandparents and the parents have no hope of any of their children returning because it is at capacity. It is common sense to put in infrastructure in the other areas and deploy people back out into the country where they belong. We can create employment there ourselves, if we have the basic infrastructure of water and sewerage. A basic need is not a lot to ask for.

I came to Dublin last Monday morning. I came in by Kildare at about 5.30 a.m. The traffic on the road trying to get into Dublin was absolutely unbelievable. I could not believe it. It was 5.30 a.m. on a Monday and I was going to a medical appointment with my son. I asked where all the cars were going at 5.30 a.m. The factories and so on have changed their hours and have asked the staff to come in at 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. instead of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. because of the congestion in Dublin. If any of us leave here after 4 p.m. to try to head home, we might as well sit here until 7.30 p.m. given the time it takes us to get out of here. There is the same problem when trying to get in. That speaks for itself.

Dublin is at bursting point. The infrastructure in Dublin is also at bursting point. There are areas around this country where if the Government spent money on proper infrastructure, we would get industry. We would have houses, people would want to move there and we would have industry. If we had people in these areas, the Government could then put something together for a proper transport sector. That is why the infrastructure is in Dublin. The Government shoved everyone into Dublin to try to get infrastructure, but it starved the rest of the country. If the Government believes in the rest of the country and builds infrastructure there, the country will supply it with what it needs. That is common sense. That is representation and looking outside the fold. That is looking at everything we see.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was here while we were talking about ESB and transport costs. They do not apply to Dublin because it does not have them. It has the ESB costs, but does not have all of the other associated costs that we have to deal with. When or if the lights go out this year, it will be the fault of forward planning. First, you put infrastructure in, like I said to the Minister tonight, and then you can build for the future. If the Government invests money now in rural areas, there will be infrastructure. However, we have to make sure that Irish Water spends the money in the areas where we want to rebuild and deploy people and not give it a free hand to get involved in massive projects that will not represent this country as a whole.

Every representative here represents different counties. It is the duty of every Deputy or Minister to get funding for their county. Now the pressure is coming on the Government to deliver. Like the Ministers in my county of Limerick, the Ministers of State, Deputies Collins and O’Donovan, Ministers in every county are now bringing down Ministers to open everything and start spending a few euro. What were they doing for the past ten or 15 years when our county sent them here to bring the money home to put in infrastructure? What did they do? Now there is social media and they can be found out for what they are not doing for their county and now they are running. My job is to make them spend the money in Limerick and I will make sure that they deliver for Limerick.

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