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

I completely appreciate where Deputy Healy-Rae is coming from on this. I reiterate that under the recent review of the rural water programme, the amount per household was increased from €9,000 to €15,000, but I accept that there has to be some degree of flexibility, especially when a smaller number of houses are impacted. That is something that I will relay back to the Department. This is not just an issue in Kerry. There are areas in my area as well, in west Cork, where we have seen pressure issues in particular where there is break after break and we see that Uisce Éireann will replace the next section and then it just moves the problem down the line. What is needed in many of these situations is a substantial overhaul of the water supply. I can tell the Deputy - and this is serious; I am not making light of it - that people in certain parts of Lissavard, in particular, and Rathbarry were happy to see the Healy-Rae vans on site a number of years ago when they were in replacing the pipe network in and around there. The problem was solved and it was fantastic. However, these black spots exist right around west Cork and, obviously, in Kerry. There has to be a programme of replacing these pipes in order that we sort out the water pressure issue. I will take back the Deputy's point about the group water schemes and the fact that where there are smaller groups of houses they seem to be left out of these group water scheme programmes. However, €15,000 is a significant amount per household, but, obviously, if it is an issue where they do not have-----

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