I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Connolly. The issue of wastewater treatment plants in our rural towns and villages is one I have raised with the Taoiseach before. I refer in particular, however, to Ballycommon in Cloughjordan in north County Tipperary, which I know he will be aware of from previous discussions here in this Chamber. With the quite large level of investment coming from the national development plan into Irish Water, I appreciate that cities and large towns will have to take a certain level of priority in terms of the numbers of houses delivered, but I am worried about our smaller towns and rural villages being left behind. In Ballycommon in north Tipperary, 34 houses could be built right now were it not for a lack of capacity in the system. Two developers there would build a plant if they got permission. In Cloughjordan, my own village where I live, we have not seen a private development since the mid-2000s. The council cannot build and new businesses often cannot connect. The housing estate that has developer-provided infrastructure cannot be taken in charge by the council because there is no capacity in the system. These are two examples of villages like many others right across rural Ireland. Will the Government commit to ensuring Uisce Éireann will provide a scheme of funding for these smaller towns and villages through national development funding and that it will not just be our larger towns and cities that will be looked at?

Sentiment score: 0.06

I would like to raise a number of cases that have arisen in Nenagh recently regarding school transportation for special classes. A number of new classes opened this year at second level. Three families are in contact with me who, two or three years ago, enrolled their children in the closest available school at the time, which is now their most appropriate school place. However, they are being told by the school transportation section that they are not entitled to school transport because there is a vacancy in a closer school. There seems to be a way to work this out. We are getting letters from schools, confirmation from parents and so on, but we need to examine the policy. We are opening more and more special classes. There are a considerable number opening in north Tipperary this year and we expect more next year. In cases where children are already settled in their most appropriate school environment, families should not have to go through this rigmarole of getting on to TDs or schools to get letters to fit the criteria and a technical policy. We should be able to examine the policy and get that ironed out while these school places continue to be expanded.

Sentiment score: 0.15