Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome what the Taoiseach has been told. However, Clare County Council has been told something entirely different. It has been told that Uisce Éireann is not looking at Spanish Point at all. It is not interested in including Spanish Point in an upgrade, nor is it interested in seeing whether Spanish Point could be catered for at Seafield or if all three of those areas, including Miltown Malbay, could be catered for at Seafield. Uisce Éireann is not interested in Spanish Point because it is not sewered. As it is not sewered, Uisce Éireann has stated it is not its problem. Clare County Council has stated it is not its problem either. The same is true of Carrigaholt.

It was a wonderful little town. I suppose it is now a village. There is huge scope for sustainable development but it cannot develop without a sewer. Spanish Point has developed but it is at its limits now because there is no sewer. Doolin is the same story - no sewer.

I do not know what Irish Water is saying the Taoiseach but, to me and to everybody else, it is saying that it is not its problem. Clare County Council is saying that it is not its problem. We have a bureaucratic issue. On top of the problems that the Taoiseach has outlined, we have created this scenario where it is nobody's problem but yet it is the State's problem. The State can and, I say, will be held accountable in international courts, and we will waste a lot of money defending actions instead of solving the problem.

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