Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the middle of a housing crisis, I am seeing refusals of planning permission for once-off housing developments because the services are not there. I am talking specifically about water. There is a direct knock-on impact because Carlow’s water treatment plants need to be upgraded, whether in Tinryland, Ardattin, Ballinabranagh and Bagenalstown. These plants are working at 100% capacity, and although funding has been promised again and again, we still have not got it. What is the update from Irish Water?

I also have an issue with funding for vacant buildings. Between 2018 and 2022, planning exemptions allowed some developers to take on vacant buildings in Carlow and put them forward for beneficial housing schemes. There is a great example in Tullow, where a former hotel, which has been derelict for more than 20 years, has applied for the repair and leasing scheme, RLS, to develop 100 units in the town centre. The local authority, however, is issuing compulsory purchase orders, caught up in red tape, to develop this high-profile unit in an historic part of the town centre.

It has taken two years with all the red tape and I ask the Taoiseach to look at it.

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