I wish to raise with the Minister the multi-annual rural water programme, an issue I have raised previously with him. It impacts communities in north Mayo - Porturlin, Carrowteige, Srahataggle and Portacloy - where many rural dwellers are living without a piped water supply, which is severely impacting their quality of life. They have no drinking water and no heating system that can reach high enough temperatures. With condemned wells, they cannot even shower. A water pre-connection application was submitted to Irish Water and was accepted as part of a feasibility study. My concern, however, is that Mayo County Council has yet to receive the framework for submission process from the Department in order to submit its funding request in respect of the measures. The Minister said in May 2022 that a working group report was with him and that its recommendations would be reviewed. Where is the process now and when will local authorities be able to make applications under the scheme?

It is a very important issue, particularly for the communities in his constituency that the Deputy mentioned. That work is nearing conclusion, as is the review of the multi-annual rural water programme. As for water pre-connection applications, if an application has been submitted to Uisce Éireann and the Deputy has not heard back from it, I ask him to get the details to me and, through my team in the Department, we will follow up on the specific water pre-connection applications that have gone in. The overall review is nearing completion. I expect that to be done this quarter.