I thank Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, for taking this debate late on a Thursday evening, on the last sitting day of this term.

I would like to talk about the town of Swords in north County Dublin. It is the third largest town by population in Ireland, but it is still treated culturally like a small village with a few airport workers in it. I am not sure how familiar the Minister of State is with Swords, but it is absolutely massive and is undergoing huge change. There is a massive amount of housing being built in Swords, which is welcome. It is all types of housing, from apartment blocks to three- or four-bedroom housing, and it is coming at scale.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure is not coming with the housing. We are currently gridlocked with traffic due to multiple upgrades and works being carried out. I know you cannot make an omelette without cracking a few eggs, but there is a disconnect in the planning of these projects that is causing havoc in Swords. We have a massive issue with our bus network, from bus stops to bus services, and again, we do not have a rail link yet. MetroLink has begun and I believe it is coming, which I am happy about, but it is still ten years away and we have a town of 55,000 people which is getting larger. It is larger than Sligo town and Waterford city; it is absolutely huge. We need bus services, special education classes and some entity to co-ordinate this. It is beyond the county council's capacity, and the Department of housing and infrastructure needs to do this.

Where this is currently hitting hard is in wastewater treatment. We have a very small wastewater treatment plant that has been there for 40 or 50 years and which serviced a much smaller town. It is currently being retrofitted and upgraded, but those works are being delayed. I cannot get across to the Minister of State the smell in the town of Swords right now, particularly in the northern part of the town, because of the upgrading works on the wastewater treatment plant. This is something that has been recurring for years upon years. We need a wastewater treatment plant that is befitting a town of the size of Swords. We need the greater Dublin drainage project to come in for the wider Dublin area, but the people of Swords are suffering.

We do not have our primary care centre yet and we do not have our bus service. Our MetroLink is ten years away and we have traffic gridlock. We do not have enough schools and we have a wastewater treatment plant that is absolutely buckling under the pressure. We welcome the houses. There were no mass protests about housing development in Swords. The majority of people who live there moved there, like myself, in the past 20 years and love living there. We know we need houses and we need sustainable communities, but we cannot deliver this unless we deliver the infrastructure with it.

I ask the Minister of State to have the Department of housing bring in some taskforce or infrastructure manager to monitor, lead and deliver what Swords needs at this point, whether it is a bus stop or a wastewater treatment plant. I do not believe there is a town as big as Swords anywhere else in the country that is undergoing a similar level of growth at this time.

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter and for highlighting the significant population growth taking place in Swords. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I am interested to hear the Deputy say it is the third largest town in Ireland. In that context, I understand why he has raised these issues.

The Government fully recognises that the successful delivery of new housing must be supported by timely and co-ordinated investment in the infrastructure required to sustain vibrant and thriving communities. Through the housing activation office in my Department, we are working closely with local authorities, infrastructure agencies and service providers to ensure that housing and infrastructure are planned and delivered together.

Swords is a strong example of this approach in practice. As the population continues to grow, substantial investment is being made across a range of critical infrastructure areas to support both existing residents and future development. A key project is the €21 million R132 connectivity project, funded by the National Transport Authority, which is currently under construction. This project will improve transport connectivity, enhance road safety and strengthen active travel infrastructure, while also preparing the corridor for future strategic public transport investments, including MetroLink and Busconnects.

The Deputy also mentioned a significant issue with wastewater treatment. Alongside this, Uisce Éireann is progressing a major upgrade to the wastewater network along Balheary Road. This investment will provide capacity for almost 3,000 additional homes while improving the resilience of essential services in the area. It is a clear example of how targeted infrastructure investment can unlock housing and support sustainable growth. The Government has also established the €1 billion housing infrastructure investment fund, managed by the housing activation office, to accelerate the delivery of housing-enabling infrastructure nationwide. Under the first call of the fund, Fingal County Council was successful in securing support for a number of important projects, including the Fosterstown Link Road and associated road, active travel, water and wastewater infrastructure in Swords. These investments will help unlock significant additional housing capacity while supporting the long-term development of the area.

More broadly, Fingal County Council is progressing a range of complementary projects, including active travel schemes, public realm improvements and the development of the Swords cultural quarter. Together, these initiatives will enhance connectivity, improve quality of life and reinforce Swords’ role as a sustainable and vibrant county town.

The Government remains committed to working with Fingal County Council and all relevant agencies to ensure the infrastructure required to support housing growth in Swords is delivered in a co-ordinated, strategic and timely manner.

I thank the Minister of State for her response, which speaks to the issue I am raising. Again, she will sense the tone in which I am raising it. There is an awful lot happening and being built, but it is the co-ordination of these works that is the problem.

If I could take just three examples from the Minister of State's response, we have the Sword's cultural quarter which is closed at the Seatown Road. That is one project. The Seatown Road is connected to the R132, which is an old dual carriageway that is down to one lane for the foreseeable future. That is two projects. That is connected to the Balheary Road, where we have the new water main going in to allow for 3,000 new houses. That is a third project. That is three separate roads that are all in one network and are all closed or heavily restricted because of these works happening at the same time. This is impacting thousands of existing residents, and will do so for a significant period.

The works are happening and the homes are being built. Some infrastructure is going in to allow for more building, but there is a huge impact on the quality of life. There will be inconveniences, there is no doubt about it, but this is having a huge impact. People are unable to get to work, college and school on time, and will face those restrictions for the foreseeable future. There are no or very few alternatives because of the way Swords has been designed over the years. On top of that, we have the wastewater treatment plant and the upgrade works which are long-delayed and taking a long time. This is causing huge discomfort to Fingallian's GAA club, other sports clubs and people who cannot open their windows in a wide radius from that wastewater treatment plant.

The council and the Department are doing an awful lot, but there seems to be a gap in the co-ordination of these projects and the medium-term impact this is having on the quality of life for the people of Swords at this time. That is the point I am trying to get across.

The Deputy has a tone of severe frustration.

The Government agrees that the delivery of housing and the delivery of infrastructure have to go hand in hand and creating sustainable communities requires investment, not only in homes, but as the Deputy said, in the transport, energy, water and community infrastructure that supports them. As he also noted, significant investment is already under way in Swords, whether it is the R132 connectivity project, the Balheary Road wastewater upgrade or the Fosterstown link road proposal under the housing infrastructure investment fund. I think that the Deputy accepts that all of those are helping or will help to address key infrastructure requirements while supporting future housing delivery. This demonstrates the value of co-ordinated planning, but in the context in which the Deputy has raised this, all I can say is that the housing activation office will continue to work closely with Fingal County Council, Uisce Éireann, the National Transport Authority, ESB Networks and other stakeholders to identify and address infrastructural constraints and to ensure that investment is aligned with housing growth. I suggest that this is how some of these concerns might be addressed, through co-ordination with a number of these organisations that are working to do this. I have no detail here or expertise, but to me that might be the only possible solution that is there. I can hear the Deputy's frustration and from what he says, I know that some action needs to be taken.