Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to see this happen again in circumstances where the State or local authorities deal with people who act in such a way. I want to get that across. I feel for the families. They will have to wait a couple of years before the next affordable housing scheme comes along again. Thankfully, we will see one in Bandon very shortly. We will see one in Kinsale. There will be another in Clonakilty, but this was the first opportunity. It is a crying shame.

One of the biggest barriers to the delivery of housing is infrastructure. I want to take this opportunity to raise the issue of wastewater treatment in the village of Shannonvale near my home town of Clonakilty. We can see no new developments there because of the lack of wastewater treatment. I want to reiterate the situation there. We have a children's play area right in the middle of the village where you have excrement and sewage coming up through the surface. The local authority is aware of it, Uisce Éireann is aware of it but yet it is on no capital plan. What we keep hearing back from Uisce Éireann is that this will cost approximately €900,000. The wastewater treatment plant only caters for approximately nine houses and, therefore, €100,000 per house does not merit putting it on the capital programme, but it is much more than wastewater treatment. We are talking about a children's play area in the centre of a village. It is an amenity. It is at the centre of the village. It is not just a wastewater treatment solution. I want to emphasise that point.

I repeatedly raise the issue of housing solutions for our islands. We have a problem, especially in the west Cork islands, where we are seeing depopulation. We are struggling to fill schools. We are struggling to fill job opportunities. The problem is that the islands are subject to the same planning regulations as the rest of the country. That needs to change. What I want to see is the Minister for housing invoke powers that would allow amendments to county development plans in respect of island areas in order to allow for housing development there.

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