Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also wish to be associated with the condolences expressed on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and to congratulate King Charles III. I express my condolences to the British ambassador, all those British people resident in Ireland and indeed many Irish people resident in the UK.There was a welcome announcement in the last budget of €50 million in funding for wastewater treatment schemes across the country. I understand that counties are to submit lists by tomorrow with two wastewater projects per county. I certainly do not wish to detract from the claims of any other counties, all of which also have high demand. County Galway, however, being the second biggest county, has a huge deficit in wastewater treatment schemes. It has only approximately 33 wastewater treatment schemes, compared with 93 in counties Tipperary and Donegal and more than 150 in County Cork. Therefore, a case could be made for counties such as Galway to have more than two of these schemes granted. We also have two offshore islands with inadequate sewerage schemes, namely, Inis Oírr, and Inis Mór, at Cill Rónáin. This is an excellent scheme, with 85% of the funding coming from the Exchequer and 15% from local authorities.

A case could be made in this regard. Ba cheart cás speisialta a dhéanamh i nGaillimh mar gheall ar an daonra agus an t-easnamh sa chaiteachas ar scéimeanna séarachais an Stáit le blianta. Tá áiteanna i nGaillimh cosúil le Carna, Cill Chiaráin, Baile na hAbhann, Inis Oírr, Cill Rónáin, Tully Cross, Lackagh agus Clarinbridge a theastaíonn scéimeanna go práinneach. Tá impleacht mór ar fhásadh na gceantar seo agus tá a fhios ag chuile dhuine go bhfuil easpa tithe le fáil in a lán áiteanna mar gheall ar easpa scéimeanna séarachais.

We know the importance of wastewater treatment schemes for preventing pollution but they are also important to ensure we have the infrastructure to build homes. Therefore, I ask the Leader to engage with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to see whether the number of grants for Galway, and other similar counties, could be increased from two to three or four to allow the backlog in this regard to be cleared.