Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the presentations.

On the management and timing of the information which was released, I understand there was a fear, both in Irish Water and the Department, that if people were alerted too early, it could lead to the hoarding of water which, in turn, could have created shortages of supply. I accept that is reasonable. Has there been any assessment, however, of the information campaign at the point at which Irish Water realised those dramatic shortages were about to affect families? There was much frustration among residents at the delay in the issuing of regular updates on when water would be restored. What kind of review has Irish Water done of that? If such a circumstance would happen again in the future, what would it do differently?

In those areas where there were longer than usual delays, and some parts of Dublin were affected longer than others, many residents complained there was not sufficient emergency supply brought in, either through tankers or other sources. Again, what lessons has Irish Water learned from the storm? If it was to face a similar event in the future, what would it do differently this time around?

There was much media commentary at the time, some of it ill-informed, that the dramatic shortages in Dublin in particular were caused by people leaving their taps on. Mr. Grant spoke of three significant leakages in burst pipes in the Dublin region and the impact they had on supply during Storm Emma. Has Irish Water done an analysis of where this lost water was occurring? Is there any data Irish Water can give us which would give us a clearer picture of where the pinch points were? Was it just a small number of large bursts in pipes and mains or other sources? Is there any evidence to suggest there was a dramatic increase in people's usage of water, either by leaving taps on, storing water, etc?