Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan requirement was €11 billion in 2024, comprised of €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and €4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending has to be questioned, I will try to concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget.

Every housing target that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats have set are nothing short of farcical. I will not use the word "lie" in the House, but what I will say is that they are misleading the public as none of the dream targets that all of them have set in housing can be achieved because of a major lack of infrastructure, which comes down to Uisce Éireann. We have a shocking mess on our hands and the Government will have to clean it.

Wastewater treatment plants are creaking and bursting. No matter how many meetings politicians and communities have with Uisce Éireann, you will not get one inch of information to give back to your community that might lead to a solution. I will mention a few: Goleen, Ballydehob, Rosscarbery, Shannonvale and Dunmanway. Those are just a few places in west Cork I can name.

Dunmanway's wastewater treatment plant is bursting at the seams, has burst into the river, and has been doing so for years. We do not know if it is in ten or 20 years' time this treatment plant will be upgraded. In that much time those in Uisce Éireann keep twiddling their thumbs, not a house can be built in Dunmanway in what could be a thriving town, and this is the same the length and breadth of Ireland. Meeting after meeting between public representatives and Uisce Éireann yields zero, and this must stop now. In the recent storm, wastewater treatment plants were found to have no generators. Not alone did they not have generators, changeover switches had not even been fitted in any plants in case of an emergency.

To pick the plant in Inniscarra in Cork as an example, imagine if it had an electricity shutdown for a number of days and there were no generators in place nor even any switches in place, in case they could take a mobile one in, as is the case. Every pharmaceutical company, every business, every private house owner and every hospital would be shut down, causing hundreds of thousands of euro in losses and possibly leading to millions.

Another area where there is a major lack of confidence is senior employees in the council. They had been transferred to Uisce Éireann but have either gone back to the council or jumped ship and taken retirement, leaving Uisce Éireann shockingly short-staffed of good expertise that kept the show on the road in the local communities. Do those in management in Uisce Éireann care? No. They really do not give a damn because they are accountable to no one. They do not care when we run into problems, like blockages or others in communities, because it is collar and tie pencil pushers who are now running the show from the capital and to hell with the rural communities served by Uisce Éireann.

I have named three areas in Uisce Éireann that need on the ground attention immediately. Does the Minister agree that some communities, like Shannonvale near Clonakilty, that have raw sewage pouring into a once local playground, which is now blocked off by Uisce Éireann, should wait 27 years with still no response?

Does the Minister agree with Independent Ireland's policy document that any communities that have five years of leaking raw sewage into drinking rivers, play parks or community gardens should have a start date for works? Will she tell me what her solution is to Uisce Éireann's mess?

This Government has been very clear in stating that we need to invest more in our water system and that we need to do more to make sure towns, communities or villages which do not have access to the quality of water should get investment first and foremost. We must also ensure that sites are opened up and that in the delivery of housing in particular we have the investment and infrastructure needed to achieve the overall objectives, goals and targets we have set ourselves. For Uisce Éireann, we have set a very clear level of investment. There will be record levels invested in the period from 2021 to this year. There are commitments of almost €6 billion in capital investment, of which over €4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funding for domestic water services. We are already starting to see the benefit of that. I look at my own constituency in County Meath where for many years we had significant problems with water quality in the towns of Ratoath and Ashbourne and surrounding areas. With €40 million of investment into a new water tower, that issue has been resolved and we are starting to see challenges and problems like that resolved right across the country. What have we said as a Government we will do? We will invest even further. We said very clearly with the review of the NDP which will happen earlier this year that there will be a particular focus on making sure we invest in our infrastructure which very clearly includes our water. We have said very clearly prior to the election and since then that a significant amount of the windfall tax receipts, and also the Apple money, will be spent on investment in our wastewater treatment.

Regarding the storm and the response, I commend every person from the ESB, Uisce Éireann and beyond who responded to an unprecedented incident where we saw tens of thousands of people not just without electricity but also without water and power. What happened in response by Uisce Éireann was that almost 400,000 customers, through backup generation, had their service maintained. A huge amount of work was done to make sure that where possible we could maintain that service. For those who were out of service, it is now the case that service has been restored and it was restored as quickly as possible. What we are looking to do now in Uisce Éireann in particular is to increase the stock of mobile generators because we know these storms are not going to end. Uisce Éireann wants to increase them by an additional 100 generators which will be purchased immediately. On top of that, it is also accelerating its programme to make sites generator-ready. It is not possible to say we will have a generator on-site in every single area but we will ensure if it is needed that those sites are absolutely ready.

I wish to compliment and respond to some of the Deputy's comments. We have quite a number of people working. There are about 3,500 people employed operating some 1,800 water and wastewater treatment plants; 4,100 pumping stations; 2,400 abstraction points; and reservoirs maintaining 90,000 km of pipeline. A huge amount of work is taking place by those in Uisce Éireann. We want to do more, we will do more and we are going to invest significantly so we can expand the infrastructure right across the country.

I thank the Minister. I raised three issues within Uisce Éireann. Regarding the generators, there was not even a switchover point in many of the plants that are there at the moment. If there was a switchover point and the emergency struck, they could bring a mobile unit in. Without it, they could not even plug it in. It is an astonishing situation. Apparently there are employees full time to organise this for the last number of years. The people of Ireland are calling out for accountability. I have asked the Minister for her solution for the people across the length and breadth of Ireland who have raw sewage pouring into their communities, but the answer she gave me will not be good enough for me to bring back to my communities to prove that they could at least get a date as to when works will start. That is the most important thing here. If we could get a date, it would solve a lot of the issues going forward. People would know even if was in three or five years' time. When you sit down with Uisce Éireann, you do not know if it is ten or 20 years' time; you only end up with a whole load of waffle talk. I have named many communities in west Cork but this is a national crisis that we have shut a blind eye to. All of this has happened while all parties here, outside of Independent Ireland, read out unachievable targets. What do I say to the people of Goleen waiting 26 years, those in Ballydehob waiting 15 years, in Rosscarbery or Dunmanway waiting ten years or in Shannonvale waiting 27 years?

Thank you Deputy.

They have raw sewage pouring into their communities every day-----

Thank you Deputy. The Minister to respond.

-----while Uisce Éireann and its buddies at the EPA and elsewhere are shutting a blind eye to them. What do I say to them?

I will respond to both points. In relation to the storm, a committee has already been established on a permanent basis to make sure all Departments and relevant agencies are prepared should something like this happen again. As I have said, the likelihood of that is quite high. What is Uisce Éireann doing? It is purchasing more generators and making sure sites are generator-ready. It will do anything more it needs to do. Separate to that, we need more investment overall. The Government is saying very clearly that we need more investment in wastewater treatment. That will happen. We are saying very clearly with the review of the NDP that we will focus on infrastructure. With the money we are spending through Apple, we will focus on infrastructure with housing being our number one priority. One of the main things that will help to unlock many of the sites on which we want to build is making sure we have that infrastructure and that access to wastewater treatment and also, for the people who are already living in houses in their communities where there are problems, that we upgrade and invest as quickly as possible. That means money but also expanding on Uisce Éireann. There is a very clear commitment to expand the number of people working in Uisce Éireann, as I have mentioned, so that this work can be done as quickly as possible and those concerns can be addressed as quickly as possible.