Richard O'Donoghue criticises minister on rural infrastructure
Richard O'Donoghue addressed the minister, accusing them of failing to deliver rural infrastructure and long-overdue sewer upgrades. He argued the minister's approach pushed people into cities, closed down towns and villages, and increased house prices.
Main criticism
He accused the minister of prioritising cities over towns and villages, 'shoving people into the cities' where infrastructure existed, while closing down local infrastructure in rural areas.
Sewer projects delayed for decades
He cited lengthy delays for sewer works, saying Skeetan had 46 years without a sewer system and Drum Cullohar had waited 15 years for an upgrade. He also said Hospital Herbestown had to install on-site systems after 20 houses were built, placing five houses on on-site systems because the sewer system could not take housing.
Impact on towns and housing
He argued that concentrating people in cities drove up house prices in urban areas and reduced demand in surrounding towns and villages, contributing to closures and a lack of local infrastructure.
Plans versus delivery
He criticised current proposals as paperwork rather than action, declaring 'Plans are on paper. Delivery is on the ground.' He warned the minister would spend millions on paperwork without delivering projects on the ground.
Opposition's solutions and questions
He said the opposition had provided ideas and solutions and demanded to know when the minister would act, asking 'When are you going to deliver?' and when the minister would listen to the opposition's answers on delivery.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Minister, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Now I welcome anything that will help infrastructure, but your failure is you were shoving people into the cities where you had some infrastructure. But what did you do? You closed down every town and village around Ireland. Now what did that do? It drove up the price of houses in areas because of lack of demand. 46 years as Skeetan has done without a sewer system. They have a down now to have it done sometime this year. But we've been hearing that 46 years. Drum Cullohar, 15 years waiting for an upgrade of a system. Hospital Herbestown, they had to put on-site systems after they built 20 houses there, they had to put five of them on an on-site system because the sewer system could not take housing. So by moving people into the cities, drive up the price inside the cities and allow people from the cities for their children to come home. You also closed down the infrastructure in all our towns and villages because of lack of infrastructure for years. And all you came up with is a plan. Plans are on paper. Delivery is on the ground. We've given you ideas and solutions to everything that you've come up with, but you'll spend millions now again on paperwork and no delivery. When are you going to deliver? And when are you going to listen to the opposition that have given you the answers of delivery? That's what the question is.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
