Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When we went into government we were asked to feed in ideas as to what kinds of projects we would like to see in the programme for Government. The provision of sewerage in villages like Broadford, which the Minister mentioned, Cooraclare and other rural village which are unsewered was one of the suggestions I made, and I am delighted the Minister has led the way on this. There is a lot of money ring-fenced for this: €50 million. It is a pilot scheme. I expect that it will be very successful when it gets under way and that it will become a multi-annual scheme. Environmentally, I do not think we have any choice but to provide infrastructure for these villages. Housing for All always nearly gets dominated with discussions about social housing and affordable housing, but the reality is that villages like Broadford, Cooraclare and others in Clare and throughout Ireland can play a major role in housing provision if they have a network. Broadford has been fighting for this for many decades. When I was a councillor in 2004 they acquired land. It is shovel-ready. Cooraclare is shovel-ready. There are two incredible teams in the locality leading this on. There is full backing politically from the council and from the Oireachtas representatives. The Department has the money. We would love to hear a positive announcement. We would love to know when that announcement might happen for Broadford and Cooraclare.

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