Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raised the issue of waste water treatment plants and the lack of major infrastructure we have in many of our towns and villages throughout the country during a Commencement debate earlier. Most local authorities are going through a county development plan process where they are examining land, zonings and how small villages and towns can develop. The key issue is the lack of waste water and water infrastructure. Without that infrastructure, these settlements cannot develop. That is one of the key issues Irish Water needs to consider to ensure a sustainable growth pattern throughout the entire country.

If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it has taught us about the beauty of living in small villages and towns and of living in rural Ireland.The capacity for Irish Water to deal with these villages and towns is becoming a major issue. There are over 200 different settlements in County Cork now and the majority of these do not have adequate water and sewerage systems. It is very hard for these communities to develop as a result. We all know we are moving away from the model of once-off rural housing but we need to sustainably build our villages and towns. I could speak of places - Ballineen and Enniskean are two examples - which are big towns and villages and which do not have the capacity to develop because of a lack of infrastructure.

We need a debate with the Minister with responsibility for local government in order that he can tell us how he proposes to see this new Ireland develop. This new Ireland must develop around villages and towns, which must have the capacity to develop. It must be a core driver for Irish Water but, unfortunately, it has not yet stepped into the space. It is a major deficit and as a result, we do not have the sustainable rural development we spoke about. I appeal to the Leader to ask the Minister to come before the House and bring forward his ideas on how to bring about the sustainable model that we have all spoken about. Otherwise, we will continue to see what we have now, which is a continuous movement of populations to the cities, including Dublin, which do not have capacity for more development.