I raise the issue of funding that will be necessary to provide the infrastructure we need to stimulate the economy post Covid. I believe Irish Water, in particular, is a key driver of this infrastructure. Irish Water needs to be financed to ensure vital services such as water and sewerage are available to stimulate growth in houses being built, in providing serviced sites for commercial activity and in ensuring IDA Ireland has serviced sites to attract foreign direct investment and indigenous investment. The programme for Government contains aspirations for balanced regional development. If they are to be realised, the Government will need immediately to set the agenda for Irish Water and to supply the necessary funding.

I give as an example my own county, Galway. It has been held back because of this lack of investment. Growth centres all around Galway city are at a standstill. Why is this happening? Galway County Council cannot give planning permission for developments because there are no municipal wastewater treatment facilities available in the towns and villages. For example, Craughwell, Corofin, Abbeyknockmoy, Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Ballinderreen, Ardrahan, Labane, Turloughmore, Lackagh, Kilconnell, Cappataggle, Mountbellew and so on are precluded from building any housing developments due to decisions by An Bord Pleanála that any development in these towns or villages is premature until a public wastewater treatment plant is built. An Bord Pleanála has compounded the matter by ruling out housing in these areas with individual septic tanks. It has ruled all development out.

Another example is the IDA Ireland site in Athenry. Athenry is at the crossroads of motorways and railways and it is ripe for development but that site does not have any water or sewerage connection so no investors can use that site. Galway County Council has a county development plan setting out the way that County Galway and Galway city will develop, but this plan has also been stalled. For example, we have what we call the Ardaun corridor, stretching east from Galway city towards Athenry. Since we do not have what we call the east Galway wastewater treatment plant on anybody's agenda, no development can happen here. We talk about the congestion of traffic in Galway city. Until we get this investment and Irish Water is fully financed, we will not be making any regional development happen, especially when one looks at an example such as County Galway.

I thank Deputy Canney for raising an important issue in the development of our country, planning forward. I have some broad points to make with regard to the funding of Irish Water. There was agreement in the last Dáil at an Oireachtas committee about the approach that would be taken. I believe there was and still is cross-party and independent support for that approach, so I do not see it changing. It will involve the introduction of water charges where the excessive wasteful use of water is clear and evident. That will provide certain funding but more importantly it will provide a signal to avoid wasteful use of a precious resource.

The broad economic approach of this Government will have to involve managing ourselves out of an economic difficulty through investment. We will not contract our way out of this economic downturn. Investment in capital infrastructure has to be our guiding star. At a time of low interest rates, when our infrastructure is holding back development in a variety of ways in water, public transport and housing, that is the critical investment we need to do, which will create jobs and avoid some economic mistakes of the previous period. This Government is and will be committed to expanding or investing in capital projects, especially those which, as the Deputy says, have co-benefits in that they allow other developments to take place.

When it comes to water investment, it is interesting that the Deputy takes Galway as an example because Galway has historically suffered more than many other counties due to lack of investment in wastewater treatment as well as water supplies. The wastewater treatment, which is often less visible or seen as less of a priority, is where particular problems have occurred in Galway. I support and agree with the Deputy's case for investment in that type of infrastructure in places such as the Ardaun corridor and Athenry. If we can combine that development with improving and upgrading the rail system there, that would be the sort of co-ordinated, planned and sustainable development we seek to achieve.

It is vital in that regard that we heed the advice of the national planning framework and look for concentrated development. The authorities are right to say we should move away from the use of septic tanks, because that has brought significant difficulty to managing water quality and the problems that brings for our rivers and water systems elsewhere. By concentrating development around infrastructure spending and existing towns and villages and new developments close to public transport and infrastructure development, that is where success will lie. In any dealings with the Government, I will absolutely look to see how we can prioritise capital investment in Irish Water and in projects such as the ones the Deputy cited because they provide the sort of sustainable development we need.

I welcome the Minister's positive words about the development. A significant issue in Galway and other counties is that many housing estates were built with private wastewater treatment plants that are not being taken in charge by Irish Water or by Galway County Council. It is left to the residents to provide the funding to maintain these treatment plants and to provide for future investment to keep them alive. The reality, which I see and know at first hand, is that in many of these estates the treatment plants are an environmental disaster about to happen. There is no maintenance happening and nobody is taking responsibility, and this also needs to be factored in. I believe a working group in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government was looking at this, but looking at it is no good. We need the funding to make sure it is sorted out. I ask the Minister to look at it because an environmental disaster is waiting to happen if we do not invest in it.

I will certainly take it into account. My understanding is that the political agreement about managing water recognised that we will continue to have private water schemes and group water schemes. I recall some of the analysis of it stated that they sometimes have the greatest difficulties. It is not as if they will all completely switch to the Irish Water system, but they have to be included and managed in a way that avoids pollution problems and all the other problems that come with it.

One thing that this feeds into is the question of the future of Galway County Council and Galway City Council and a potential merger of the two, which may help with the management of our water management system. Water does not know boundaries. It tends to go from city to county and getting the strength of our local government back to assist local communities, even where they are not taken in charge, to make sure standards are applied and resources are available might be one way we can help this particular situation.