Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

We are going to produce a new housing plan in July. Deputy Doherty can be quite assured that part of that new housing plan will be significant additional funding and enabling provisions for Irish Water and, indeed, for energy. We have been clear, and we were very clear in the election, about what we would do with the proceeds from the Apple account in terms of how that money would be deployed.

I agree on this point: water infrastructure and energy infrastructure are key enablers if we are serious about reaching the 300,000 homes that need to be delivered in this country between now and 2030. The Deputies will see, week in and week out, actions from the Government to get to that point. They saw just the first in a range of announcements they can expect with the memo we had this week in relation to the extension of planning permissions that were due to expire.

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