Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair. I want to talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, about affordable homes and rentals for people in Limerick, as a fellow Limerick man himself. I was at the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage a while ago with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I am going to ask the Minister of State the same question I asked him. Thirty-eight years ago, a sewerage system was promised for Askeaton. It was before the Minister of State's time. It has been promised since then on numerous occasions. Two years ago, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was in Limerick, and he did a small video clip with Councillor Kevin Sheehan. They announced it again but it still has not happened.

Oola, Hospital and Dromcolliher are waiting for their sewerage systems.

Where is the money for the infrastructure to allow us to house people in County Limerick? That would support Limerick city.

The Minister and I were both at an IBEC meeting. The whole focus of that meeting, which met in analogue the other day, was the affordability of houses for people who IBEC wants to work for industries in Limerick. Eli Lilly was looking for housing in Limerick. We have houses coming on stream in Patrickswell but there are no affordable houses for the people outside Patrickswell. The Land Development Agency, LDA, has promised investment for infrastructure in places that are within 15 minutes of the city. There will be investment for housing and all other developments, going forward. That will cover Patrickswell, Adare, Croom and Ballyneety. The LDA strategy does not cover anywhere else in County Limerick. I want to build houses for people in County Limerick. By building houses, we build communities.

Ministers and the Taoiseach were in Foynes the other day. That town has a location for the upgrading of its sewerage system but the development has not started yet. We were at the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum and I welcome the investment in that facility. I welcomed the Taoiseach when he was there. We then went to the running track in Newcastle West and I welcome the investment there as well. The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, went from there to Broadford, where the hall has been done up. I welcome that investment too. The problem is how we can get people, including our children and grandchildren, back living in those areas so we can fill those halls and have people to run on the running tracks and use the GAA complexes. How can we do that without basic infrastructure? There have been 39 years of promises from Governments to deliver for County Limerick. Promises were made 30 years, 25 years and two years ago. Infrastructure still has not been delivered for County Limerick. That infrastructure would feed into the industry we have in Limerick. We have fantastic industries coming to Limerick and in Limerick. Some 83% of the workforce on the floor in the manufacturing industry is at a level that requires affordable housing to allow people to work. How can we do it without infrastructure? We are not going to be able to do it through the LDA because it will not go further than 15 minutes outside Limerick city. We cannot do it. We need investment.

The Minister of State is in government. His senior Minister is Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who has been to Limerick on numerous occasions. We drove around where new houses were announced for delivery in Limerick. He could not answer one question. For every house announced for Limerick last year, I asked the Minister to ask the contractors what is left in the capacity of the sewerage system. Every contractor on every site where houses were being opened said that the sewerage system was at maximum capacity. What do we tell the people of Oola when they cannot get planning permission on their own sites? People in Oola who want to build their own houses are being told by the local authority that there is no room in the sewerage system because it is at maximum capacity. In Dromcolliher, sewerage is seeping into the River Deel. In Askeaton, raw sewage is going into the waterways at the Shannon Estuary. It has been highlighted in videos. That shows that the biggest polluter in this country is our local authorities. They have come to the Government to ask it to fix the problem. The Government has stated it is introducing houses here, there and everywhere, but it cannot introduce houses without basic infrastructure.

Limerick has been starved of infrastructure, as I highlighted already, for up to 40 years. Empty promises have been made by Governments. In the years that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in power, they have never delivered on the infrastructure for which we have asked. It is on the record of the Dáil and councils that we have asked for support and they have not delivered. However, they can spend millions upon millions on things that never get off the ground while not supporting the person who wants to go to work. They cannot support the industries that want people to work in them. If we do the basics and provide infrastructure, as I keep saying, we will build our towns and villages. That will, in turn, build our schools and communities. It will also build a business model to allow us to put in transport infrastructure. However, we cannot make anything happen until we have the basics. We cannot build a transport infrastructure because we do not have enough people. We only have the basics. We cannot open new businesses. Anyone who would approach a bank for a loan to open a business will be asked for five-year growth projections. The bank will ask by how much the population will grow in the area that person wants to open a business. That person will have to say there are no such projections and the business will not be able to grow because there is no infrastructure to allow people to come to the area to support the business. There are no people to come to the area to support the schools. Why are we amalgamating so many sports clubs? The statistics are there. Three or four parishes are coming together to create a sports team. Why? It is because we have no more people to bring home because we have no infrastructure.

We must also consider the cost of living and the cost of building. When you go to build your own house in this country, over 20% of your mortgage is payable in VAT, a tax from Government. People pay tax when they work and when they go to work but they must also pay tax on a mortgage. I want to bring people home to Limerick so they can work locally and can get to work via an infrastructure we can build. I need infrastructure. I need the Minister of State to fight with me to ensure we get the infrastructure that Limerick needs.

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