John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

It is important to say that Uisce Éireann has invested in resources and people to tackle this issue, which was cited in the meeting I had with it. I know it is determined to keep pace with the industry demand, which is in line with our own expectations, to facilitate infrastructure and housing delivery. A number of initiatives have been introduced by Uisce Éireann in recent years, including capacity registers for water and wastewater. We also have the first mover scheme so we do not penalise developers who move on a land bank first and to be able to facilitate sequential development. We also have the self-lay accreditation scheme that allows developers to use accredited contractors to do the works themselves on site. There have been a number of initiatives to try to improve the situation. I accept that pre-connection and connection agreements have to be issued to developers in a timely fashion. The organisation has assured me it is investing the resources to ensure that happens. I will continue to engage with it to ensure those timelines to issue those pre-connection and connection agreements are reduced, as well as assisting it with its asks about the consenting process. By working together, we can achieve progress in this area.