Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan requirement was €11 billion in 2024, comprised of €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and €4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending has to be questioned, I will try to concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget.

Every housing target that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats have set are nothing short of farcical. I will not use the word "lie" in the House, but what I will say is that they are misleading the public as none of the dream targets that all of them have set in housing can be achieved because of a major lack of infrastructure, which comes down to Uisce Éireann. We have a shocking mess on our hands and the Government will have to clean it.

Wastewater treatment plants are creaking and bursting. No matter how many meetings politicians and communities have with Uisce Éireann, you will not get one inch of information to give back to your community that might lead to a solution. I will mention a few: Goleen, Ballydehob, Rosscarbery, Shannonvale and Dunmanway. Those are just a few places in west Cork I can name.

Dunmanway's wastewater treatment plant is bursting at the seams, has burst into the river, and has been doing so for years. We do not know if it is in ten or 20 years' time this treatment plant will be upgraded. In that much time those in Uisce Éireann keep twiddling their thumbs, not a house can be built in Dunmanway in what could be a thriving town, and this is the same the length and breadth of Ireland. Meeting after meeting between public representatives and Uisce Éireann yields zero, and this must stop now. In the recent storm, wastewater treatment plants were found to have no generators. Not alone did they not have generators, changeover switches had not even been fitted in any plants in case of an emergency.

To pick the plant in Inniscarra in Cork as an example, imagine if it had an electricity shutdown for a number of days and there were no generators in place nor even any switches in place, in case they could take a mobile one in, as is the case. Every pharmaceutical company, every business, every private house owner and every hospital would be shut down, causing hundreds of thousands of euro in losses and possibly leading to millions.

Another area where there is a major lack of confidence is senior employees in the council. They had been transferred to Uisce Éireann but have either gone back to the council or jumped ship and taken retirement, leaving Uisce Éireann shockingly short-staffed of good expertise that kept the show on the road in the local communities. Do those in management in Uisce Éireann care? No. They really do not give a damn because they are accountable to no one. They do not care when we run into problems, like blockages or others in communities, because it is collar and tie pencil pushers who are now running the show from the capital and to hell with the rural communities served by Uisce Éireann.

I have named three areas in Uisce Éireann that need on the ground attention immediately. Does the Minister agree that some communities, like Shannonvale near Clonakilty, that have raw sewage pouring into a once local playground, which is now blocked off by Uisce Éireann, should wait 27 years with still no response?

Does the Minister agree with Independent Ireland's policy document that any communities that have five years of leaking raw sewage into drinking rivers, play parks or community gardens should have a start date for works? Will she tell me what her solution is to Uisce Éireann's mess?

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