Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has claimed a lack of investment in water infrastructure is holding back development in the Derry-Letterkenny city region while particularly lamenting inadequacies in provision in Inishowen.
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00:00I am going to start with our major town, Letterkenny. We want to develop Letterkenny into a city.
00:08We want to join Letterkenny with Derry and Strebran, and we talk about the north-west
00:15city region, and to attract all the investment and infrastructure that comes with that. The
00:21development of Letterkenny is crucial to that vision. I have to say that there is no doubt
00:28that Iskairn, with the lack of resourcing from government, are a huge barrier to doing that.
00:35I am asking today that I am sure there will be senior management of Iskairn listening or
00:42watching back on this debate to understand that they need to work in partnership with
00:47Donegal County Council, with local public representatives, and they need to work in partnership also
00:54with developers who have a vision and a plan, but it will be orderly, will be sustainable,
01:00will be part of a plan. But there is a huge frustration, I have to say, with Iskairn. Of course, that
01:07is because they are not resourced properly and they are not structured properly to facilitate
01:13that level of vision being operated. There is just a lack of join-up. I also want to talk
01:17about the Inneshone Peninsula. At the heart of the Inneshone Peninsula is the Eddie Fullerton Dam,
01:22named after my late colleague and great colleague, Councillor Eddie Fullerton. That was his vision.
01:27It is a massive water supply and it was resourced because it would supply water, not just to Inneshone,
01:33but at the time to the Lagan Desert and East Donegal, as it was called, and indeed to Letterkenny,
01:38and that is happening. But it is unacceptable that you have communities in Clonmannie,
01:44in Carindonna and Norfin is shown that do not have the proper water infrastructure. Right now,
01:50housing developments are being turned down in places like Carindonna, Movil, because of the water
01:57and the wastewater deficit. But particularly when you have the Eddie Fullerton Dam, it is not acceptable
02:03that that would happen. Finally, I am asking that Iskairn would have a direct representative to speak to
02:09in every county and somewhere like Donegal. There should be two. Somebody who you can speak to
02:15if there are water bursts, if there are ongoing problems. We shouldn't have to send emails. We
02:20shouldn't be treated like it is a corporate structure that is at arm's length. This is a public
02:24body, a crucial public body. So I urge that that accountability and that culture changes and it
02:30changes very quickly.