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

The respondents can answer because they are very professional and they know how to do their job. What I am saying is that we had an incident where we were told that an alarm system was not responded to over an extended period of time. That had a negative impact on 615,000 people. I would just like to know how that can happen. That is an important question to ask.

We got an update on where the implementation of recommendations from the March EPA report are at. I would like an explanation for the slippage that the EPA spoke about. What was the reason for that slippage and in particular, is installing an emergency shut-down system a very complicated job? Is there a reason that took longer than clearly the EPA thought should have happened from its report? I know the witnesses will not have completed their formal response to the EPA's October report, but are they in a position to give us any indication of timelines for the implementation of those nine recommendations? I know the witnesses have spoken about the UV system, but can the committee give us any more information in relation to that? Obviously that is very important to us.

In light of what the witnesses said about yesterday's events, what additional work do they think is going to be required to reduce or possibly eliminate such an event occurring again? I am accepting what they are saying that the plant operated properly yesterday in terms of the shut-down and the notifications, but for us to ensure that does not happen again, what additional works are required?

With respect to the Department, it was clear from what the EPA was saying earlier, and this also speaks to what Deputy Breathnach was saying in terms of his own experience in Louth, that it is giving the Department regular updates in terms of failure to implement the recommendations of its audit report and slippage in those. The most recent one was in September. What do people in the Department do when they get those reports? Do they get involved, engage with Irish Water or engage with the relevant local authority? At what point does this get brought to the attention of the Minister, given the scale of the issues that we are talking about?

In terms of the impact on families and businesses, is there going to be any compensation available? For example, many businesses will have lost trade or incurred very significant costs as a result of not having access to properly treated water. For example, no tankers have been provided to provide freshly treated water and people have had to buy significant volumes of expensive bottled water. This applies not just to the 615,000 people but people generally affected by boil water notices. Who foots the bill for the additional cost that is put on those businesses and householders?