The Taoiseach has spoken about building 300,000 houses over the next few years and I wish him luck in that. The facts are at the moment that 85% of the towns of Ireland do not have capacity to provide extra water for new housing. We know the budget that Irish Water is working with. Its ten-year plan is to bring the network up to specification under EU regulations and is based on approximately 30,000 houses per year. We know that, in Dublin, Ringsend's sewerage is over capacity. What happens when it is over capacity? We open the sluice valve and away with it. The same is happening in Mutton Island in Galway. What is happening with the quality of water in Cork? There are major problems. This is all in the context of the Dublin wastewater plant, which started in 2015 and got approval in 2019 but which has been in the courts ever since. It has not moved. This is a major problem. The Ballymore Eustace pipeline, which has been on the go for 50 years, has six leaks at the moment. Approximately 40% of Dublin's water comes in through it but, according to the chair of Irish Water, it could burst any time and then there would be pandemonium. The Shannon pipeline that is proposed is going to cost a fair few quid.

At the moment, there are 400 sewerage plants in smaller towns that need to be brought up to specification but Irish Water is saying that will not be possible until after 2030. I will give an example. Irish Water said in 2022 that Ballygar in County Galway was going to get an upgrade, as was Mountbellew, and that they would be done in a bundle. Now we are looking at 2026, if Irish Water has the funding.

Cloonfad is a small village in County Roscommon. This morning, for the 21st time at Lowberry Cross, the pipe has burst once more. Irish Water has announced that it is doing part of it but that is like having two cuts on your finger, in that, if you put a bandage on one, the blood will still come out of the other.

How can the Government sort out the planning side of it and make sure there is enough funding to facilitate what the Government is looking for in terms of the 300,000 houses? Most of these infrastructural projects are ten years on the go. We have to cut that, at a minimum, in half. What will be done with the judicial reviews, including the big one in Dublin? What is going to be done around the country to make sure that smaller towns are looked after as well?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a key infrastructural issue in terms of facilitating the construction of thousands of houses but also in terms of the broader economy. The existing Uisce Éireann strategic funding plan, which was from 2025 to 2029, was approved last November. That committed over €10 billion in capital investment by Uisce Éireann in that period. There will be further additional investment in the context of the national development plan. We already announced an additional €1 billion allocation in the last budget in respect of receipts from the sale of shares in AIB. We are under no illusion that it will need substantially more capital investment.

The water supply project was approved in principle by Government in June of last year. That is a generational project, as the Deputy referenced, in terms of dealing with the deficit and lack of capacity for growth in the eastern and midlands region by supplying water from a hydro power reservoir on the Shannon river. We need people to go with that. We need political representatives to go with that because any delay in that could have very serious consequences for the eastern and midland region. The spend on that is extraordinarily high.

Regarding the greater Dublin drainage project that the Deputy spoke about, the current planning application is, it is my understanding, under review. Again, the Deputy mentioned judicial reviews. The new planning Act is meant to streamline that. We have to now implement that and commence it. That was the subject of a lot of debate and opposition in the last Dáil. A lot of people said we were rushing it but it took four years to get from conception to conclusion in the Legislature and to get that Act passed. On the one hand, we are saying our system is too slow - and it is, in my view - in terms of both planning and the utilisation of judicial reviews, JRs. Collectively as a society, we have to weigh up what is important for all of us. Water supply is part of that. What we are saying to Irish Water is that there will be further investment but, parallel to compliance obligations, there has to be increased capacity for housing.

We also, I believe, have to look at the option of working with the private sector in terms of water supply and wastewater. We have to just open up and broaden perspectives in terms of how we are going to meet the enormous challenges we are facing, on the housing front in particular, in terms of new connections and new supply capacity. That is something the Government is examining at the moment.

The facts are that of the €10 billion that is proposed, €5 billion is to comply with EU legislation. It is to bring plants that are not compliant at the moment into compliance. Another €3 billion of it is for the Shannon project. What the Government is saying, then, is that the Government has €2 billion over five years to produce an additional 30,000 houses every year. To be quite frank about it, whoever did those figures - and I know it was not the Taoiseach - does not have a bull's clue of what is going on in this country in terms of trying to supply water and sewerage plants for the projects in question.

Last year, the budget for subcontractors working for Irish Water on repairs, leaks and maintenance was gone by August and 500 subcontractors - people out working - were laid off. They were laid off because the budgets had been blown. From August until Christmas, it was tough luck with regard to leaks or repairs. They had to be left until the next year and the same will happen this year because of the way Irish Water is doing its budgets. I ask the Taoiseach to look at this.

Given that we are talking about an extra 300,000 houses on top of the 30,000 target, we must look at the figures that Irish Water is giving. The Shannon project is a once in a lifetime project for Irish Water and should have a completely separate budget from all of the other projects.

The Deputy has made a number of fair points there. In the context of the national development plan, we will look at some of those issues in terms of, first of all, the need for additional capital funding for water because that is key, in my view, for housing and economic development, particularly in the context of the trade war that is potentially on our doorstep. We need to be very nimble in ensuring that we can respond to the needs of industry, both our own industries and those that may wish to invest in Ireland. Historically, we have always been very strong on utilities, including water availability and connections to the grid. Those two areas of investment in the grid and investment in water are going to be critical in terms of the economic development of the country into the future.

I will take on board the suggestions the Deputy has made and we will engage with Uisce Éireann in respect of them.

That completes Leader's Questions. Before we move on, I want to welcome all of those viewing proceedings from the Public Gallery, but particularly the students from my former secondary school, Ramsgrange Community School. I was not there too long.