ONE County Limerick politician told the Dáil that he has contacted Uisce Éireann regarding 42 houses being built in Pallaskenry to help the government meet its housing targets.
Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue, during a debate on the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025, also urged Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Christopher O’Sullivan, to look at delivering for Pallaskenry and consider dissolving Uisce Éireann while he’s at it.
“On the website, it stated that Pallaskenry was a green flag, ready to build. We contacted Uisce Éireann and advised it we had an out-of-date letter for the 42 houses so we could deliver for the people, through the government. I do not care who delivers them as long as the houses are there,” Deputy O’Donoghue told the Dáil.
“(Úisce Éireann) said it was sorry but it had to do research on the plant. This plant was delivered by a developer who is no longer developing. The 42 houses were being built for the people of the local area to meet the government’s housing target and to put roofs over people’s heads.”
The County Limerick TD went on to tell the Minister of State how long it took the water utility to get an “A4 sheet of paper on which all it had to do was change the date”.
“It took 29 emails, 36 phone calls, and eight weeks,” he said.
Deputy O’Donoghue explained that Úisce Éireann “said it had to go back and do an analysis on the system. Everyone knows that, for a sewerage system, the analysis is done on a weekly basis to know how the plant is working.”
“However, it took that amount of administration … to send us an email with an A4 sheet of paper. How does the government expect to get delivery at that rate? How does it expect to meet its targets on that basis?”
To help the government to meet its targets, O’Donoghue suggested the government dissolve Uisce Éireann and give the water infrastructure back to the local authorities “where we had no problems”.
Uisce Éireann, he claimed, cannot deliver with the money it is given.
“There is no accountability and no budget and that is why we are not getting delivery. I want to help the government. Send me into any of the projects for which it has given the government the figures and I will offer solutions,” he stated.
“The existing plants could be modified to keep going until the government has the money to invest in them so that we can build more houses on existing systems. I can help to deliver the project on time.”
