Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan requirement was €11 billion in 2024, comprised of €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and €4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending has to be questioned, I will try to concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget. Every housing target that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats have set are nothing short of farcical. I will not use the word "lie" in the House, but what I will say is that they are misleading the public as none of the dream targets that all of them have set in housing can be achieved because of a major lack of infrastructure, which comes down to Uisce Éireann. We have a shocking mess on our hands and the Government will have to clean it. Wastewater treatment plants are creaking and bursting. No matter how many meetings politicians and communities have with Uisce Éireann, you will not get one inch of information to give back to your community that might lead to a solution. I will mention a few: Goleen, Ballydehob, Rosscarbery, Shannonvale and Dunmanway. Those are just a few places in west Cork I can name. Dunmanway's wastewater treatment plant is bursting at the seams, has burst into the river, and has been doing so for years. We do not know if it is in ten or 20 years' time this treatment plant will be upgraded. In that much time those in Uisce Éireann keep twiddling their thumbs, not a house can be built in Dunmanway in what could be a thriving town, and this is the same the length and breadth of Ireland. Meeting after meeting between public representatives and Uisce Éireann yields zero, and this must stop now. In the recent storm, wastewater treatment plants were found to have no generators. Not alone did they not have generators, changeover switches had not even been fitted in any plants in case of an emergency. To pick the plant in Inniscarra in Cork as an example, imagine if it had an electricity shutdown for a number of days and there were no generators in place nor even any switches in place, in case they could take a mobile one in, as is the case. Every pharmaceutical company, every business, every private house owner and every hospital would be shut down, causing hundreds of thousands of euro in losses and possibly leading to millions. Another area where there is a major lack of confidence is senior employees in the council. They had been transferred to Uisce Éireann but have either gone back to the council or jumped ship and taken retirement, leaving Uisce Éireann shockingly short-staffed of good expertise that kept the show on the road in the local communities. Do those in management in Uisce Éireann care? No. They really do not give a damn because they are accountable to no one. They do not care when we run into problems, like blockages or others in communities, because it is collar and tie pencil pushers who are now running the show from the capital and to hell with the rural communities served by Uisce Éireann. I have named three areas in Uisce Éireann that need on the ground attention immediately. Does the Minister agree that some communities, like Shannonvale near Clonakilty, that have raw sewage pouring into a once local playground, which is now blocked off by Uisce Éireann, should wait 27 years with still no response? Does the Minister agree with Independent Ireland's policy document that any communities that have five years of leaking raw sewage into drinking rivers, play parks or community gardens should have a start date for works? Will she tell me what her solution is to Uisce Éireann's mess?
Sentiment score: -0.03
I thank the Minister. I raised three issues within Uisce Éireann. Regarding the generators, there was not even a switchover point in many of the plants that are there at the moment. If there was a switchover point and the emergency struck, they could bring a mobile unit in. Without it, they could not even plug it in. It is an astonishing situation. Apparently there are employees full time to organise this for the last number of years. The people of Ireland are calling out for accountability. I have asked the Minister for her solution for the people across the length and breadth of Ireland who have raw sewage pouring into their communities, but the answer she gave me will not be good enough for me to bring back to my communities to prove that they could at least get a date as to when works will start. That is the most important thing here. If we could get a date, it would solve a lot of the issues going forward. People would know even if was in three or five years' time. When you sit down with Uisce Éireann, you do not know if it is ten or 20 years' time; you only end up with a whole load of waffle talk. I have named many communities in west Cork but this is a national crisis that we have shut a blind eye to. All of this has happened while all parties here, outside of Independent Ireland, read out unachievable targets. What do I say to the people of Goleen waiting 26 years, those in Ballydehob waiting 15 years, in Rosscarbery or Dunmanway waiting ten years or in Shannonvale waiting 27 years?
Sentiment score: -0.03
They have raw sewage pouring into their communities every day-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----while Uisce Éireann and its buddies at the EPA and elsewhere are shutting a blind eye to them. What do I say to them?
Sentiment score: -0.20