In many parts of our country, infrastructure is greatly lacking, leaving many towns and villages dying a death and nowhere is this more evident than in west Cork. A complete lack of investment by successive Governments has left two bypasses promised to the people of Bandon unfinished, one bypass in Inishannon, not only unfinished but not even started, and a promised bypass for Bantry not even started. Not one passing bay has been built in decades, limiting car drivers to tractor and lorry pace on all of the main roads in west Cork.

Our great town of Bantry in west Cork was flooded once again two weeks ago because a flood-relief scheme promised for 30 years remains undone. However, today I want to concentrate on the lack of investment in wastewater treatment plants by Uisce Éireann. Shannonvale in Clonakilty has raw sewage bursting out of an outdated wastewater treatment system onto what is supposed to be a children's play park which is now blocked off. The stinking substance leeches into the Argideen river close to the intake pipe for Clonakilty drinking water. This has been going on for 27 years.

Heading west to Rosscarbery, the famous Warren Beach was closed to the public this year because bacteria were found in the bathing water. People could clearly see suspended solids in the water, all due to the wastewater treatment tank in need of upgrading. We can travel down the road to Dunmanway where an outdated wastewater treatment plant had a continuous discharge of sewage into the Bandon river during the summer. This outdated treatment plant is at capacity thus preventing growth in a thriving town. All development has been stopped in the town and for how many years ahead we do not know. Heading west to Ballydehob, an overloaded outdated wastewater treatment tank pours raw sewage directly into the estuary. This tank has failed the test for several emission level values every year since 2015 and nothing has been done. Farther west, Goleen also has an outdated wastewater treatment plant. In 1999 when the council was still in charge, it was shown to have raw sewage entering the local waters from the tank. Even though it needed to be addressed at the time, nothing has happened since.

During the summer I attended numerous public meetings in these towns and there is huge anger. We have met representatives of Uisce Éireann and each time we are told it may or may not be in its plans for 2025 to 2029 while all these plants keep pouring raw sewage into the sea. All this time, the EPA is not to be found anywhere. I recently called on the EPA to furnish me with the report from Shannonvale for 27 years, only to be given a report going back a few months, leading me to ask the question: what is it hiding? What will we tell these communities when we canvass them in the general election campaign? Rosscarbery has been waiting for ten years, Dunmanway 15 years, Ballydehob 20 years, Goleen 25 years and Shannonvale 27 years for proper wastewater treatment plants. Can we tell them that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will personally intervene with Uisce Éireann? It cannot be left to hide behind this nonsense. I hear that scientific evidence is needed. Raw sewage out of a wastewater treatment plant is simply raw sewage. I ask the Minister to step in and set up a task force, led by him, which within six months will give clear dates for the start and completion of these urgent projects in west Cork.

I want to say directly to the people in those towns and communities that are affected by the issues the Deputy has referred to that I am not in a position to come into the Dáil today and give a very specific answer on the status of wastewater treatment plants for different towns and villages within our country. If he had given me an indication that he was going to raise these specific towns beforehand, I could have done that. However, he knows it is very difficult for anybody to come in here today and be able to directly answer questions regarding specific projects for very specific towns which are valued by him and by all who represent that constituency.

What I can say generally on the issue he raised is that in budget 2025 when the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I were making decisions regarding the allocation of a further €3 billion that has been generated by the sale of shares in banks that our country has owned for some time, we have highlighted that further funding to be made available to Irish Water is a top priority for that money. We are doing that because we recognise the need for further investment in our water, further investment in wastewater treatment plants that can make a difference to the quality of life of those whom Deputy Collins represents and whose concerns he is raising here today and also with regard to the provision of homes in those areas. We accept that more needs to be done in that area while also saying that Irish Water is making important and valuable changes in the quality of wastewater treatment plants within our country.

I can give the commitment here today, as has been outlined in the budget, that further funding will be made available for that area. On foot of the issue that has been raised by Deputy Collins, of course, I will certainly pass on to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, the issue that has been raised and how we can respond back to those lovely and important parts of Deputy Collins's community getting the investment they need.

I thank the Minister. What is wrong with Uisce Éireann? The Minister is saying the Government is pouring money in it. Even if it was moving at a snail's pace, some of these towns would have their wastewater treatment plants built, but it is not even moving at that pace. It cannot be money as in some of the towns I mentioned, we have offered co-funding to speed up the process and get the plants built but it makes no difference. For far too long, this Government has pointed the finger of blame at farmers as the culprits for the contamination of our waters. All the powers that be have been watching every move they have made when we now know who the main culprit for contaminating our clean waters, and that is the State through Uisce Éireann, aided and abetted by the EPA.

The Minister said I did not furnish him with the information in advance and I accept that I did not. On behalf of the people of west Cork, I ask him to personally intervene. He said he would speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and I appreciate that and anything at all that will help to bring this up along the line. We need to set up a task force to report in six months - not one where the can is kicked down the road and there is no answer. I cannot have parents telling me their children drank raw sewage from these tanks and became seriously ill. We need action in west Cork now and not kick the can down the road.

We need action but I think we also deserve some honesty about the work of Uisce Éireann. In the Deputy's second contribution, I think he suggested that it in some way is the culprit for this.

It is.

Uisce Éireann is the organisation that offers the best hope that we have of resolving this issue.

No hope to these towns. Some have been waiting for 27 years.

It is a great dishonesty to say on the one hand we want progress to be made in the area and then the men and women who work in the organisation capable of making a difference-----

Accountability.

-----are the ones he condemns.

We have been waiting for 27 years.

That is not a recipe for progress or a recipe for a solution. I want to offer my full support to the work that Uisce Éireann does. While we all remember the difficulty involved in setting up that organisation, it is only through a unitary water authority like that body that we will be able to put in place the investment at scale that is needed to ensure that Ireland has safe water in the quantity that we will need in the years ahead. I reiterate what I said a moment ago. I think the Deputy does the issue a great disservice in referring to the organisation, which is best placed to provide the solution he is looking for, as in some way being the culprit.