Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Tá mé ag ardú na ceiste ó thaobh na híocaíochta ón Stát do dhídean ar cíos do mhuintir ón Úcráin. Mar is eol don Aire, chuir Sinn Féin in éadan an síneadh ama don scéim seo ag tús na bliana. Dúirt muid ag an am sin go raibh an scéim ag cur brú ar an earnáil cíosa príobháidí. Is é sin an rud atá tarlaithe ó shin.

The accommodation recognition payment, ARP, scheme for Ukrainian refugees was introduced at a time of great uncertainty in 2022. I ask the Minister again today to look at the impact of this scheme. As he is aware, in February of this year, Sinn Féin voted against the blanket extension of the scheme. We argued that it should only be available to host families who open up their own homes to Ukrainians. We also argued that it should not be available to homes that should really be on the private rental market. We further argued that it should not be available for rooms that should be used as student digs. We told the Minister it was unfair and that it offers an advantage to one group of renters, namely, Ukrainians, that is not available to any other.

Landlords openly state that they are getting more money from the accommodation recognition payment than they would receive if they let their properties to private renters. As the Minister is aware, the scheme provides €800 a month in rent for Ukrainians, regardless of whether they are working or their income. The payment is tax free, which means it is worth €1,600 to a landlord. In constituencies like mine in Donegal, where the average rent is below €1,600, it is pricing other renters out of the market and reducing supply. That flies in the face of the commitment the Government gave, and assurances that any measures to temporarily accommodate Ukrainians would not impact on housing supply. The Minister himself said the Government does not want to pursue a measure that interferes with the private rental market, but that is precisely what it has done, and what is happening.

We, in Sinn Féin, warned earlier this year that this scheme would put further pressure on the private rental sector, and it has now been shown to be indisputably unfair. The latest figures show that the number of new payments made under the scheme is increasing at the rate of nearly 1,000 per month. Many of these payments are in respect of homes that should be available to workers and families in the private rental sector. Since the scheme was extended earlier this year, thousands of homes have been taken out of that sector. The Government has built in an incentive for landlords to accept one renter over another, based on their nationality, when the housing need of both is acute. That is wrong. If there are two people working side by side, earning the same wages, with the same family size, under the scheme the Government pays the rent for one but not the other.

We can see why more and more people are questioning the fairness of this payment. It is provided regardless of income and regardless of employment status and that is simply not fair. How can this do anything other than create competition, resentment and inequality when a dysfunctional rental market already exists? I put a number of clear questions to the Minister. I also put them to him in the amendment we put forward in February of this year. I am asking the Minister to take immediate action on this to ensure that those who are working pay for their accommodation, like everybody else in the State, to bring an end to new payments under this scheme from today and to ensure proper controls are in place so the scheme does not reduce the number of properties in the rental market.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. Just before I respond specifically on the ARP, it is worth reminding ourselves of the context in which this payment was introduced. It was at a time of the greatest humanitarian crisis we have seen on our Continent since the Second World War, and the greatest movement of people across the Continent.

It was the biggest humanitarian challenge we in Ireland have faced in our nation's history. We have provided refuge for more than 100,000 Ukrainians over the course of the past two years. At its height, the State was directly providing accommodation supports to approximately 75,000 Ukrainians, but the numbers have decreased for various reasons. One reason is that Ukrainians are returning home. Some Ukrainians are going to other European countries. The numbers have also decreased because of measures the Government has taken. We provided a generous response to Ukrainians at the start of this war. That was the right thing to do. Most Deputies in this House think that was the right thing to do. However, it was not a response that could be maintained in the medium term. Earlier this year we made significant changes to accommodation in particular. We placed a 90-day limit on the ability of new Ukrainians coming to this country to stay here. That had a very significant impact on the number of people arriving in Ireland seeking temporary protection. We subsequently made changes to ensure equalisation and fairness. For example, there was an anomaly for Ukrainians who were in receipt of direct State-provided accommodation, who were getting free accommodation as well as meals. They were in a more advantageous situation than Ukrainians in self-catering accommodation and Irish people. We have made significant amendments to the social protection entitlements for those in full State-owned accommodation. They are now only entitled to €38 per week. That change has had an impact as well.

The recognition payment has been very important to support the pledged accommodation and the local authority accommodation scheme. It has allowed us to move away from total reliance on hotel and guesthouse accommodation that we saw earlier in our response. It has also allowed Ukrainians to integrate within communities. Sometimes they get entire homes and sometimes shared rooms within an individual's house. The payment supported people to do that and to meet their costs. Up to this point, we have aligned that support with the temporary protection directive. That is correct in terms of ensuring Ireland's response is in lock step with the response of other European member states. Under the legislation, there is a provision for the review of the workings of the recognition payment. A review is currently under way and that will feed in to the decision on whether we extend the scheme in line with the temporary protection directive or if we amend its ambit.

It is important to state that right now there are thousands of people supported by this payment.

If we were to cut or end the payment immediately, it is important that we understand the impact this would have on Ukrainians who we, as a country, are hosting. That has to be borne in mind in terms of any decision this Government or future Governments make in respect of the recognition payment.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister knows, this payment is nothing to do with the temporary protection directive. This is Irish legislation. We can change, end or amend it. Indeed, we argued that existing Ukrainian residents would be supported but that the policy should not displace homes that should be available to the private rental sector. The Government voted against that in February. This is why we are in a situation whereby about a thousand additional homes come within scope for this payment every month. This is putting pressure on the private rental sector. I have examples of it. I come from a county where the average rent is below €1,600 per month and landlords have told me that they can get more money renting to Ukrainian families than to others. That is why 1,100 of those properties Donegal - one out of every seven rental properties - are in that space. It is the same in many other counties. This is fundamentally an issue of fairness.

Of course we have seen the compassion of the Irish people. Of course needed to move to support individuals when the war broke out. Two years have passed. A person who works side by side with an individual who has a similar sized family experiences a blatant unfairness when it comes to the Government's scheme in that the State pays for the rent of one and not the other. That is not acceptable. A third of Ukrainians are working, yet regardless of their income, employment status or profession, they receive State-supported accommodation. The problem is that this policy is displacing the private rental sector. The Minister needs to bring this to an end for new recipients immediately. As we pointed out in February, we cannot continue to put this pressure on the private rental sector.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. It is important to state that this payment is allowing us to meet the accommodation needs of Ukrainians who are here as a legal right under the temporary protection directive. It is an extremely important part of the State's accommodation offering. Thousands of Ukrainians have a legal right to be in this country under the temporary protection directive. We meet their accommodation needs through the recognition payment and pledged accommodation. If we are to speak about removing that payment, we have to have an answer in terms of how we continue to meet our obligations to those people, who are here legally.

We made a decision, which was supported across the House at the time, to the effect that over-reliance on hotels and guest houses was not an appropriate way to meet the accommodation needs of families in particular on a long-term basis. The recognition payment has allowed people to live independently in communities and put down roots. I have not heard a clear suggestion from Sinn Féin about how we would address those needs-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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We put the amendments down. The Government voted against them.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Deputy said what he does not want-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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With respect, we put amendments down-----

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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-----but has not indicated what he does want.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----stating what should happen.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Whoever is the Minister has to find the accommodation. He or she cannot draw those kind of lines in terms of what will not happen. The Minister has to show where accommodation will be provided.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister did not once address my point about the unfairness of what is involved.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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At the weekend, when asked to explain the spiralling homelessness figures, the Taoiseach blamed vulnerable migrants. He said homeless numbers are now heavily impacted by people seeking international protection. This, as the Minister knows, is not true. The biggest correlating factor in the context of rising homelessness in Ireland is not rising migration, it is Fine Gael in government. Every year for more than a decade, homelessness figures have increased. Nearly 14,500 people are now homeless, including almost 4,500 children. This is, of course, an indictment not of vulnerable migrants but of this Government and previous Governments.

People at home will be interested to know that people seeking international protection are not counted in the monthly homeless figures. They are not entitled to stay in emergency accommodation. Under this Government, they are not even guaranteed a bed or tent. In fact, this Government's treatment of international protection applicants is so appalling that the High Court has found it unlawful. However, that has not stopped the Taoiseach from trying to shift the blame from Government onto migrants. Saying that migrants are the cause of rising homelessness is a textbook dog-whistle. It validates and normalises the dangerous far-right narrative that migrants are the cause of the problems people are facing.

Yesterday, Mercy Law Resource Centre, which has expertise in housing law, issued a lengthy demolition of the Taoiseach's comments. It stated that the causes of homelessness are multifaceted and directly relate to decisions made by central and local government over many years. Does it concern the Minister that the Taoiseach's comments have had to be fact checked and dismantled by legal experts? Does it concern him that in the current climate of increased racism, arson, assault, threats and intimidation of migrants, the Taoiseach is seeking to blame them for the homelessness crisis?

Last week, the Minister gave an interview to The Sunday Times in which he lambasted his coalition partners for putting politics over policies. Is this not a clear example of that cynical style of politics? Facing a barrage of criticism, the Taoiseach's office released homeless figures for Dublin in July to try to back up his remarks. These do not tell the full story. The national figures for the second quarter of this year tell us that the biggest cause of homelessness is relationship breakdown, the second is receiving a termination notice in the private rental sector, the third is listed as "other" and the fourth is leaving direct provision, comprising a small fraction of the overall figures.

As Minister for integration, Deputy O'Gorman has not yet commented on this. Is he concerned about the impact of this kind of dog-whistling on migrants, many of whom are already living in fear? Would he like to use this opportunity to confirm that the Taoiseach's comments were shameful scapegoating of a vulnerable minority and were wrong?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. For clarity, I spoke to media at some length about this on Monday, but I am very happy to restate what I said at that point. We have to be absolutely factual when we are dealing with these issues and are in a situation where we have a homelessness crisis, where many people are in really difficult situations, where we have a humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine and where we have seen increased level of international protection applicants.

The fact is that international protection applicants have no right to housing supports, the housing assistance payment, HAP, or to access homelessness services. Ukrainians, who are beneficiaries of temporary protection, have no right to housing supports, HAP or to access homelessness services. The very tenure of the approach of the Government, which was deliberately chosen at the start of this crisis, was that my Department would undertake the emergency response to the housing needs of those fleeing the war in Ukraine and seeking international protection here, and the Department of housing would continue its work in terms of focusing on the delivery of Housing for All, social housing and affordable rental and purchase. That is how things have worked.

Over the course of two years, my Department has been able to provide emergency accommodation for more than 100,000 people. That is a huge number. We are in the heat of this crisis now, but when we look back in subsequent years, we will acknowledge the scale of the response. It was enabled by the supportive communities all over our country.

I agree with the Taoiseach when he says that we should not blame vulnerable groups in our society for the pressures on housing. In Housing for All, we have set out our approach to increasing the number of units produced and available for housing every year. We achieved 32,700 units last year and are hoping to bring the number up to 40,000 this year. That is the way we will be able to address the homelessness crisis in our country.

The Deputy mentioned the challenges in my Department in terms of meeting the accommodation needs of international protection applicants. They remain acute. We have been found to be wanting and in breach of our legal obligations. That is something of which I am very conscious. I am working on the implementation of the new accommodation strategy, which is designed around a core of State-owned accommodation. The major problem with the system that I inherited is that it is 96% reliant on the private sector.

That is why the use of State-owned land has been so important in recent months. The fact that we are accommodating people on State-owned land in Trudder, Crooksling, Ballyogan and will be in the next few weeks in Thornton Hall is extremely important in meeting the immediate homelessness needs and being able to provide basic shelter for people when they are rough sleeping in the short term. However, in the long term, we need approved State-provided accommodation for the people we know will continue to seek international protection here in the future.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Since Deputy Harris became Taoiseach, there has been a dominant message from this Government trying to make the lives of international protection applicants as miserable as possible. The Government has announced plans to cut their meagre allowances and to charge them to stay in institutional settings. The Minister's Department is enforcing transfers from international protection applicant accommodation, thereby uprooting adults and children who have integrated into local communities. Meanwhile, efforts to evict people who have leave to remain from direct provision accommodation have been stepped up. The Taoiseach is now attempting to blame the very people who have been failed by the Government, the people the Minister just acknowledged, for the homelessness crisis. The cynical scrapping of the incitement to hatred laws can also be added to the list.

The Minister has not provided the promised State-run reception and integration centres we so desperately need. He has to decide whether he is happy to stand over the Taoiseach comments blaming migrants for the homelessness crisis. Will the Minister clarify if he does stand over those comments? What does he have to say about the matter?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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No one is evicted from international protection accommodation. I want to make that clear. In a situation where people have status, they are entitled to the full range of supports we spoke about earlier that people in the international protection application process are not entitled to. When people get their status, they are entitled to the same set of rights and supports as every Irish citizen. We have put in place significant resources to help those who have status to move on because it is not good for anyone that they continue to live in institutional direct provision settings. That is not what anyone wants. Let me be clear, however; no one is evicted from those premises, even if they have leave to remain.

We have transferred people across our network. We have to be able to do that as we are under a great deal of pressure to ensure that we can offer accommodation to newly arrived people. We have to make changes. Working with the Peter McVerry Trust and other housing NGOs, we have put in place a network of supports and more than 4,500 people have successfully moved out of international protection accommodation and into the community since 2022.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Back in July, Kerry County Council was notified that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is undertaking a review of the planned expenditure for 2024 against the overall budget for national roads, active travel schemes and greenways. Pending completion of this review, it requested that the council not proceed to tender on four projects. This money was allocated to County Kerry. However, in its infinite wisdom the Government has said that the N72 Killallee-Fossa pavement scheme costing €350,000 is to be shelved - parked; the N70 Creamery Cross to Kenneigh phase 2 pavement scheme costing €800,000 - in case the Minister does not know where it is, it is outside Waterville on the road to Cahersiveen - has been shelved - parked; the N71 Kenmare to Bonane phase 2 pavement scheme costing €750,000 - in case the Minister does not know where it is, when you leave Kenmare, the road goes up by Bonane and on towards Glengarriff - has been shelved - parked; and the N72 Lackabaun - in case he does not know where that is, he will have heard of Liebherr Cranes, which is located there - pavement scheme costing €240,000 has been shelved - parked. Overall, the roads budget for 2024 - in case people do not realise this - was cut by €200 million. Will the Government commit to restoring this funding? At a time when it is almost in the position of having to pike money out of the way in different Departments because it is coming their way, I ask the Government to spend the money on roads.

I do not want to cause an argument about cycle lanes or anything of that nature. However, I will give an example. Some €1.2 million was spent on the Rock Road in Killarney. The Minister knows where Killarney is. I could count on one hand the number of cyclists using that cycleway. It cost €1.2 million. No one looked for it but they got it because it is a cycleway. We want a bypass for Killarney. We have money to acquire the land and move the project on, but have we the money to build the road? No. Have we money for the people in Bonane? No. Have we money for the people at Creamery Cross in Kinneigh? No. Have we money for Lackabaun? No. What in the name of God does the Government have against motorists? Does it really despise them that much? The Minister will know how much tax accrues every time a person spends €10 on petrol or diesel. The Government needs to realise that people have to drive around in cars. We cannot all cycle everywhere. Try telling the people in Bonane today that they must cycle to Killarney, Kenmare, Sneem or wherever they work. Tell them they have to get on a bicycle. The Minister would not face it on a bicycle. I know I could not face it on a bicycle. In the honour of God and all that is holy, will the Government please restore the funding, give up the blackguarding it has engaged in and give us back our money? Kerry County Council, Frank Hartnett, our excellent director of services, our excellent roads staff and the private contractors are all ready and waiting. All we need is the money. I am not asking for it; I am pleading with the Minister in an earnest and sincere way.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. He is right that I know where Killarney is. I had a very enjoyable experience of visiting it with my family for a weekend in July. On the journey there, like pretty much everyone, we spent 30 minutes caught in the notorious traffic jam in Adare. As we were caught there, I noticed the work on the Adare bypass-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Were you on a bike?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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-----which is a roads project approved and funded by the Government.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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That is no good to the people of Kerry today.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Deputy would probably agree that the project will probably be of benefit to many of his constituents when it has been completed. I make that point because the Government is building new road infrastructure and upgrading existing roads. No doubt the Deputy was at the opening of the Listowel bypass last month, another major piece of new infrastructure in the Deputy's constituency. The Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 under the national development plan, NDP. As part of this, the we foresee an Exchequer allocation of €2.9 billion for the protection and renewal of existing roads over that period.

In 2024, €411 million in Exchequer capital funding was provided for national roads, for protection, renewal and new roads through TII. This money will be disbursed by TII to the local authorities. The full list of projects funded was announced in February of this year and there has been no reduction of the overall capital funding available for national roads in 2024 since those allocations were announced. However, that does not mean the budget is not under pressure. There are pressures. Some new roads programmes are facing pressure in 2024. There are a number of reasons for this, including faster delivery. We are getting capital projects done more quickly. That is a good thing. We are also seeing inflation in the cost of building materials and land acquisition costs increasing. In the past, when we had significant underspend of capital streams due to projects not being done on time, we could move things around. However, this year, our national capital spend is ahead of target, so the little pots of money that could be reallocated at the end of the year are not as available now as they were in the past.

As well as building and renewing roads, we are investing in public transport systems and we are doing so on scale. The Deputy spoke about the challenge of cycling long distances in County Kerry. He is absolutely right, but we are funding significant additional public transport programmes in his constituency. The number of Local Link journeys increased from 160,000 in 2019 to 370,000 at the end of 2023. On the Deputy's home turf, the Bus Éireann service from Kenmare to Killarney via Kilgarvan used to be three times a day. It has gone up to 12 times a day now.

We are putting investment into major road infrastructure. We are making investment in the renewal of existing roads around the country. We are also providing much-needed additional services for the Deputy's constituents, who are demonstrating their hunger for those new services. The Minister and the Government have met their needs.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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The Minister is always welcome to County Kerry and so is everybody else. I ask that they please bring their money there and spend it. We could do with it. In spite of everything the Minister said, there has been an overall cut of €200 million in our roads budget. Those projects were shovel ready. The land acquisition and everything was in place. They were ready to go to tender when they were cut. I am asking on the record that the funding be restored in order that those projects can go ahead.

I remind everybody that at the insistence of the Minister's party when it went into government, €1 million is being spent, seven days a week and 365 days a year, on cycleways and walkways. I am not complaining about that. I am not saying it is wrong. I am saying I would like for some consideration to be given to motorists. The cyclist is very important but so is the motorist. Motorists are usually in a hurry to get from one place to another in order that they can roll up their sleeves and go to work. It is work that keeps the economy going. It runs everything. We need people going to work. We cannot tell them to walk or cycle. I appreciate the extra buses. I really do. However, the bus might not be suitable for everybody because it might not be able to take people from their door to work.

I am making a heartfelt plea to the Minister to take on board what I am saying. I am not fighting with him. I am just asking him to restore the money.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for his long-standing invitation. With respect, it does sound like he is complaining about the allocation of money to cyclists. We do not need to be setting one off against the other. We did not invest in cycling infrastructure in this country for a long time. Plenty of the cyclists who are now benefitting from schemes, some of them urban and others rural, are cycling to work. Some of them are tourists who are creating employment for many of the Deputy's constituents. Many of the people who are availing of the extra public transport services around his constituency are going to work. People go to work in a variety of ways. Many people do not have cars and public transport is their only access to work.

The Deputy is absolutely right that cars are necessary for many people. That is why the Government, as well as increasing the investment in major public transport projects and putting in place new services, continues to invest in new road infrastructure and upgrading existing roads. From the information I have, there has not been a €200 million cut. I will pass the points the Deputy has made on to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle agus leis an Aire. Táimid ag díriú isteach arís ar chúrsaí infreastruchtúir nó, níos cirte a rá, easpa infreastruchtúir i nGaillimh, sa chathair, sa chontae, An Cheathrú Rua san áireamh agus go háirithe ó thaobh cúrsaí séarachais de. Tá an easpa bhunúsach seo ag cur isteach go mór mór ar a thuilleadh forbartha agus ar chúrsaí tithíochta agus tá gá práinneach le beart stuama ó Uisce Éireann faoi stiúir agus fhís an Rialtais chun é seo a chinntiú.

Unfortunately, my question today once again focuses on the inadequate capacity in the existing wastewater collection treatment network in the Galway metropolitan area, including Merlin Park, Oranmore and Barna. An Cheathrú Rua has absolutely no wastewater treatment plant. This lack of basic infrastructure is preventing development in Galway, even though it has been chosen as one of the cities where the population will grow to 120,000. That simply cannot happen. It is empty rhetoric to talk about growing Galway and about balanced regional development, not just in the region but in the city and the county. It is utterly empty rhetoric. It cannot happen. Planning permissions are being stalled.

The wastewater treatment plant on Mutton Island was upgraded in 2014 and 2016. It has plenty of capacity. The kernel of the problem is the collection network going into it. We have a serious problem in Merlin Park. There is no storage facility in the pumping station there. There is a serious problem in Oranmore, which is connected to Merlin Park, and also a serious problem in Barna. All of this has been recognised for a very long time, going back to 2007. There are two pipes, or siphons, going under the estuary of the Corrib and bringing wastewater from the east of the city. A survey in mid-April of this year found that the larger of the two existing pipes on the estuary of the River Corrib, exactly where I live, has structural defects and is "at risk of collapse at any time". What is needed is a new 750 mm pipe. That was identified back in 2007. All the defects were identified by the city council, which did a good job. It applied for funding but did not get it because Irish Water was being set up. We have left Irish Water without vision, without resources and without any direction.

I am a proud Galwegian. I do not want to talk down my city. I want to talk it up. We have natural beauty and every possibility. We should be running with light rail to ease the transport problems. We should be acknowledging the serious defects in the wastewater treatment network that are allowing raw sewage in through the storm overflows on a regular basis. I will come back to that in my second contribution. I am asking the Minister, if he does not know the details, to acknowledge what I am saying, acknowledge the empty rhetoric and take a hands-on approach to correcting the defects.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising a very important matter. It is one that has public health dimensions to it, environmental dimensions and also development and housing dimensions. I will not pretend for a moment that I am in any way an expert on the intricacies of the wastewater infrastructure deficits and challenges the Deputy and her constituents face in Galway. If she does not mind, I will speak at a slightly higher level. I am happy to raise the issue with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

I always see the challenges in regard to our drinking water and our wastewater infrastructure in the three ways I mentioned. There are thousands of homes in this country in which people are still operating under a boil water notice. By consuming their own water, they put their health at risk. That is relevant to those on the public water network and also to those who have drilled their own wells and are reliant on that supply. There is also a significant environmental impact on our river and coastal water quality. This has a real economic knock-on effect in terms of the conversation about the maintenance of the nitrates derogation and the importance that water quality will play in the determination the EU makes as to whether that derogation is extended. As the Deputy said, ultimately, the issue has a very significant development element as well. If we are not putting in place the sort of infrastructure we need to deal with the needs of new homes, then new homes cannot be built. I fully agree with her on the importance of regional balance. As a proud Dubliner, I do not want to see our entire country weighed around Dublin and the surrounding area. I strongly believe that our regional cites, including Galway, Waterford, Limerick and Cork, must be allowed to grow and must be given the key infrastructure to permit their development. Water is absolutely fundamental to that.

The current Uisce Éireann investment programme amounts to just over €5 billion. In my area, I have seen the positive outcome of that in terms of Irish Water taking this function away from the local authorities and implementing regional solutions to issues to do with drainage and wastewater. Its next set of investment plans will be set out next year. Where the Deputy and I might agree is that more investment is needed in this area. As we look at the NDP and available capital funds, for the environmental, public health and housing benefits it will bring, further investment in Irish Water to allow it to undertake and expand its role is hugely valuable.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am glad the Minister is here as leader of the Green Party and a Green Party Minister. I just want him to hear what I am actually saying. One of the two main pipes taking sewage through the estuary of the Corrib out to Mutton Island is in imminent danger of collapse.

Can the Minister imagine what that means for the area alone, for health and for housing? Back in 2007, it was recognised that we needed a new siphon or a new pipe; nothing has happened. Back in 2009, it was recognised that we needed a new wastewater treatment plant on the east of the city to allow for the development of the Ardaun corridor and other developments; nothing has happened. Storm water overflows were brought into acute focus when the EPA made a site visit to Oranmore last year. It was inspecting an outflow as a result of an electricity outage, and what did it find? There were 70 recorded incidences not reported to the EPA of sewage going into the water in less than six months. They were discovered as a result of a site visit.

Let us stop the empty rhetoric about development and growing Galway city without the basic infrastructure, let us recognise the problem and let us have some leadership and vision in that regard. The Minister tells me about his goodwill. I appreciate that but I spent 17 years of my life at local authority level and saw the money applied for, recognising the faults that were there, while the Government was busy setting up Irish Water and then not giving it any steer or resources, a hands-off approach-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am not used to being over time. I apologise.

I am appealing to the Minister. This is my second time in the space of three months to raise this. I will keep raising it. If the Minister does nothing else today, I ask him to say the Government hears me and will meet with Irish Water in relation to an immediate plan for Galway city and its environs, including An Cheathrú Rua, which has no wastewater treatment plant and where the sewage is going straight into the sea.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I absolutely hear the Deputy's valid concerns about the risks here, particularly in respect of those two pipes, the structural integrity of one and the risks there, as identified by the EPA. I am happy to bring those concerns forward. I think the investment Irish Water has undertaken nationally and the investment it will be able to undertake with additional capital funding will allow the immediate environmental and public health risks the Deputy has highlighted to be addressed. The investment will also allow for the necessary water infrastructure to be put in place to enable the level of development the Deputy and I both want to see across Galway to be maintained and enhanced. I am happy to speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, directly about this issue and I will note that Deputy Connolly has raised it now on a number of occasions in the House.