Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I too look forward to the publication of the national development plan in the coming weeks and to the significant investment we will see in infrastructure. The challenge, of course, relates to delivery. Our problem with certain State agencies is what I can only describe as a "Bulmers" approach to delivery - nothing added but time. Some of our delivery has been particularly poor. I would like assurance, particularly in respect of water infrastructure. I will talk about my own constituency of Wicklow-Wexford, which the Tánaiste knows very well. While Uisce Éireann has done good work with regard to the Arklow wastewater treatment plant, there have been 24 instances of water outages of 24 hours or more in Gorey town over the last 18 months. The area of Tara Hill and Ballymoney, which the Tánaiste is very familiar with, regularly experiences outages. Communities like Aughrim in County Wicklow and Ferns and Camolin in County Wexford have been waiting for more than 20 years for a wastewater treatment plant. What guarantees can we be given that, when the Government puts the investment into water and wastewater infrastructure, Uisce Éireann will actually be accountable and will deliver so we can ensure that the outages we have been experiencing will not happen at the same levels again?

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