Water: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny I thank the Minister. We have challenges and we are very aware of that. Building houses is a priority for this Government. The more houses we deliver the better. This is about the families, communities and people who need housing. In my area of Carlow, for example, through our local authority, we are looking at land that has been serviced. We need to look at serviced sites. That is really important. I am going to raise a few issues I am very mindful of within my area. There was to be the extension of the wastewater treatment system from Grange to Tullow in County Carlow. The funding was allocated to this project two years ago but we have not yet even started the work. The issue is that Grange is a small area. It is a lovely area to live in. There is a primary school there with a large number of children. The council has to go out there regularly and empty the septic tanks. This is in 2026. My concern is that we are always announcing the funding is coming. As I said, this project was announced two years ago and we are still in the same position. Another area that has been very much highlighted to me is the wastewater treatment in Ballinabrannagh, County Carlow. It was the same in Ballinabrannagh. Announcements were made but we still have not got the go-ahead for a certain amount of the work there. These are challenges we really need to look at. The programme for Government is about delivery and we cannot do that if we do not have the proper services there. Another issue I was very much working on about two or three years ago was the case of Ardattin, County Carlow. I am raising the rural places because rural Ireland is so important. I know the Minister is working on this and that is why it is important we are looking at the wraparound services. The council was going to build houses in Ardattin because there was the need. It was going to look at local authority and private homes but it could not get the wastewater treatment and what it needed to build houses. We have to make sure, through Irish Water, that when we give a commitment to delivering these services, we do it. We cannot just announce them, in particular in the case of Grange. The council is emptying septic tanks in Grange and it is unacceptable. There are a lot more projects in Carlow town. We really need to see how we can progress this and work together to get the services to make sure we have the delivery. Rural Ireland is really important. When announcements are made, I ask that commitments, dates and funding are given and that we work on them as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for all of his work. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-21