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

That is not an exhaustive list. That is just to give a flavour of the places that do not have a wastewater treatment facility. As recently as when the county development plan was being discussed, the county councillors there were saying that they want wastewater treatment facilities to be put in place to allow these places to grow and that people will be able to build their houses and connect to a main sewer. But Irish Water is saying, and it is justified in saying it, that it is not their responsibility because they do not have any network there. So where are we to get this prioritised? How are we going to get schemes going in those types of places? I will pick one for an example, namely, Caherdaniel. It is in the heart of an area where I was very privileged and glad to be elected as a councillor for many years. At that time, we were asking when we would get a sewerage scheme for Caherdaniel and we are still waiting for it. And God knows, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since and a lot of other material has gone somewhere as well because there is no place else for it to go.

What are we going to put in place so that our councillors and our councils can prioritise it and not be getting this answer back from Irish Water to say “Nothing to do with us. We have no say; we have no role; we have no input. Go back to the Department”? That is not exactly very helpful to us.

I am pushing this tonight and it is not for big schemes of houses or anything like that. I am talking about if we can get five or ten homes built in the locations I am talking about and connect up the existing homes. We would be supporting the local shop, post office and GAA team. We would be keeping the fabric of community and spirit that Ireland is all about and keeping the people together. This is vital infrastructure. That is why I respectfully ask the Minister of State to deal with it tonight. I have every confidence in him that he will give me a positive response on how these excellent county councillors are to proceed with the problem facing them in each of their constituencies.

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