A CONTINUED lack of investment in infrastructure is holding back house building in County Limerick.
That was the claim by Rural Independent TD Richard O’Donoghue in the Dáil this week.
“Promises were made 30 years, 25 years, and two years ago,” he said.
“Infrastructure still has not been delivered for County Limerick. That infrastructure would feed into the industry we have in Limerick. We have fantastic industries coming to Limerick and in Limerick.
“Over 80 per cent of the workforce on the floor in the manufacturing industry is at a level that requires affordable housing to allow people to work. How can we do it without infrastructure?” Deputy O’Donoghue asked.
The County Limerick politician went on to claim that the Land Development Agency (LDA) were not the answer because “it will not go further than 15 minutes outside Limerick City”.
“Housing Minister Deputy Darragh O’Brien has been to Limerick on numerous occasions. We drove around where new houses were announced for delivery in Limerick. He could not answer one question. For every house announced for Limerick last year, I asked the Minister to ask the contractors what is left in the capacity of the sewerage system. Every contractor on every site where houses were being opened said that the sewerage system was at maximum capacity.”
O’Donoghue then wanted to know what they should tell people on Oola who cannot get planning permission for their own sites.
“People in Oola who want to build their own houses are being told by the local authority that there is no room in the sewerage system because it is at maximum capacity.
“In Dromcollogher, sewerage is seeping into the River Deel. In Askeaton, raw sewage is going into the waterways at the Shannon Estuary.
“The biggest polluter in this country is our local authorities. They have come to the Government to ask it to fix the problem. The Government has stated it is introducing houses here, there, and everywhere, but it cannot introduce houses without basic infrastructure.’
Limerick, he insisted, has been starved of infrastructure.
