I wish the Minister well in her new role. I look forward to working closely with her. I raise the urgent need for the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant in Mitchelstown in my constituency of Cork East. An upgrade of the existing plant has been acknowledged by Uisce Éireann and is badly needed to ensure extra capacity is created to further housing development in the town. The current housing situation in Mitchelstown is forcing those seeking to buy a house to look elsewhere. This has been ongoing for a number of years. We need certainty that extra capacity will be created to meet future housing need when large areas of the town remain undeveloped. Once this is confirmed, housing developers will receive certainty that they can apply for planning and will be connected while potential buyers will be heartened by the increased offering in the local housing market. I sought timescales from Uisce Éireann but these remain unconfirmed. As such, will the Minister please intervene through her good offices to get an update?

I wish the Deputy well and congratulate him on his appointment. I am aware of this issue. It was raised with me when I was in the constituency during the election campaign. My understanding is that this is very much on the agenda for Uisce Éireann and that work is under way and engagement is happening with stakeholders. The commitment I mentioned is that we will increase and expand the funding that is going into Uisce Éireann to make sure these kinds of developments can happen as quickly as possible. The Government is committed to supporting these types of programmes and making sure they can progress as quickly as possible.