Galway West TD Catherine Connolly has hit out at the Government's "empty rhetoric" on the future growth of Galway and balanced regional development.
Speaking in the Dáil, she raised the issue of lack of wastewaster capacity in the Galway metropolitan area - including Merlin Park, Oranmore and Barna.
She said the lack of this basic infrastructure is strangling growth, impacting on planning permissions - and projected growth simply cannot happen.
Deputy Connolly acknowledged the Mutton Island plant has plenty of capacity - but the major problem is the wider network connections.
She said there are a myriad of serious problems, and Government is aware of some of them for almost 20 years.