Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

I am raising an urgent matter regarding ESB, Electric Ireland, connections to houses across the country. I am on the housing committee. In recent weeks the Government rightly agreed to reforms with regard to Uisce Éireann, allowing developers to carry out certain works directly, thereby reducing delays and costs. The same principle now needs to be put in place and applied to the electricity infrastructure in our country. Housing projects across the country are being stalled as developers are forced to wait, in many cases for many months, for the ESB to connect them to the grid. We all know of the recent case in Portlaoise where a housing development was delayed by many months. In many cases those developers have the expertise and the contractors can carry out this work to the required standard, but they are prevented from doing so and we are, therefore, getting unnecessary bottlenecks. With over 16,000 people now in emergency accommodation, there is an urgency for housing targets, and everybody is under pressure. As we recognised recently with Irish Water, that we can unblock this gridlock, we need to do the exact same with electricity connections. I call on the Government to engage with ESB Networks and the industry stakeholders to establish a framework that will work, as we have done with Uisce Éireann, and that can undertake private wiring for developments according to regulation and absolute oversight. This would accelerate housing delivery. It would reduce costs and ensure houses are not left idle for many months like the ones in Portlaoise.