Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is looking for a pre-announcement, which we cannot do. All I will say is that if schemes are good, there is no restriction per county, like one or two per county. That is not the question. We received just over 20 applications across the country - not a lot, to be frank, but enough for us to be able, in my view, to start this pilot programme. Where the land is purchased, the planning permission is there and the works are ready to go, those are the types of things that provide additionality above and beyond the work that has been done by Uisce Éireann on larger schemes and right across the country.

There is no limit per local authority area on the number of schemes that could come forward. We have had over 20 and they have been assessed in detail. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Uisce Éireann and my Department have gone through them. Some of the applications were not fully complete and we had to go back for additional information. I will make announcements on them as soon as I can. I have only just concluded the work on the recommendations.

See this speech in context