Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend my county colleague and friend, Senator Garvey, on tabling one of the most substantial Private Members' motions I have seen. It is very important. I recall when investment was planned a long number of years ago when I started in the House, and the Irish Water model was proposed. People protested in the streets. Paying for water is appropriate if people can afford it because it is a finite resource. It is not limitless and costs money to purify. It is regrettable to think that of the €1.2 billion spent two or three years ago to purify our water, €600 million went to waste because of poor infrastructure and leaking pipes. Irish Water is doing its best to some degree. Certainly any time I have engaged with it on humanitarian issues, when people have found themselves in difficulty because of significant leakages but were not in a position to discharge the bill, it has very much had an open door to listening to the stories and working with them to find a resolution. I acknowledge this because Irish Water can often be criticised, a lot of the time justifiably so but certainly sometimes not.

I come from County Clare where a number of villages need new group water schemes and improved infrastructure. These include Doolin, Cooraclare, Carrigaholt and Broadford. These villages cannot develop any further because they will not get planning permission because of the poor waste water and water facilities infrastructure. We have had meetings with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on this particular issue. We were told there may be a pilot scheme but we are still waiting for the details of it. Such a pilot scheme would be welcome. I can speak about these four villages in Clare off the top of my head but there are probably another 40 that could benefit from investment. If we are serious about regenerating rural Ireland, and I acknowledge much has happened and there is much genuine commitment to doing so with announcements as late as this morning in this regard, we have to get the infrastructure right. There is no point building a house unless the foundation is secure. The foundation of any village is to have good quality drinking water and proper waste water infrastructure. This has gone on for too long.It has gone on for decades. I spoke to Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, who was a Deputy for County Clare in the 1980s. This was an issue in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s and it is still an issue. It is time for it to be grappled with and dealt with head on once and for all.