The Taoiseach has spoken about building 300,000 houses over the next few years and I wish him luck in that. The facts are at the moment that 85% of the towns of Ireland do not have capacity to provide extra water for new housing. We know the budget that Irish Water is working with. Its ten-year plan is to bring the network up to specification under EU regulations and is based on approximately 30,000 houses per year. We know that, in Dublin, Ringsend's sewerage is over capacity. What happens when it is over capacity? We open the sluice valve and away with it. The same is happening in Mutton Island in Galway. What is happening with the quality of water in Cork? There are major problems. This is all in the context of the Dublin wastewater plant, which started in 2015 and got approval in 2019 but which has been in the courts ever since. It has not moved. This is a major problem. The Ballymore Eustace pipeline, which has been on the go for 50 years, has six leaks at the moment. Approximately 40% of Dublin's water comes in through it but, according to the chair of Irish Water, it could burst any time and then there would be pandemonium. The Shannon pipeline that is proposed is going to cost a fair few quid. At the moment, there are 400 sewerage plants in smaller towns that need to be brought up to specification but Irish Water is saying that will not be possible until after 2030. I will give an example. Irish Water said in 2022 that Ballygar in County Galway was going to get an upgrade, as was Mountbellew, and that they would be done in a bundle. Now we are looking at 2026, if Irish Water has the funding. Cloonfad is a small village in County Roscommon. This morning, for the 21st time at Lowberry Cross, the pipe has burst once more. Irish Water has announced that it is doing part of it but that is like having two cuts on your finger, in that, if you put a bandage on one, the blood will still come out of the other. How can the Government sort out the planning side of it and make sure there is enough funding to facilitate what the Government is looking for in terms of the 300,000 houses? Most of these infrastructural projects are ten years on the go. We have to cut that, at a minimum, in half. What will be done with the judicial reviews, including the big one in Dublin? What is going to be done around the country to make sure that smaller towns are looked after as well?

Sentiment score: 0.04

The facts are that of the €10 billion that is proposed, €5 billion is to comply with EU legislation. It is to bring plants that are not compliant at the moment into compliance. Another €3 billion of it is for the Shannon project. What the Government is saying, then, is that the Government has €2 billion over five years to produce an additional 30,000 houses every year. To be quite frank about it, whoever did those figures - and I know it was not the Taoiseach - does not have a bull's clue of what is going on in this country in terms of trying to supply water and sewerage plants for the projects in question. Last year, the budget for subcontractors working for Irish Water on repairs, leaks and maintenance was gone by August and 500 subcontractors - people out working - were laid off. They were laid off because the budgets had been blown. From August until Christmas, it was tough luck with regard to leaks or repairs. They had to be left until the next year and the same will happen this year because of the way Irish Water is doing its budgets. I ask the Taoiseach to look at this. Given that we are talking about an extra 300,000 houses on top of the 30,000 target, we must look at the figures that Irish Water is giving. The Shannon project is a once in a lifetime project for Irish Water and should have a completely separate budget from all of the other projects.

Sentiment score: 0.07