Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the various organisations, including Irish Water and the Department, for their proactivity on many problems. Staleen in my constituency is a classic example. There were major problems last year. We eventually got to a solution. While today's debate centres on Leixlip, it is symptomatic of other micro-problems across the country. I will start with the issue of turbidity. Heavy rain and flooding are common in Ireland. The witnesses say it was exactly the same in Tallanstown, on a smaller scale. The reality is that there are almost 100,000 people in addition to the 600,000 people impacted by the Leixlip plant who have boil water noices. I think the figure was approximately 92,000. If the flooding and heavy rain continues, as it does in this country, will it not become commonplace rather than exceptional in many of these schemes if the necessary equipment cannot be installed?

The witnesses mentioned the gap in controllers. There also seems to be a gap in the response. We are here to discuss a nationwide issue. It was clear in Tallanstown that there was a similar problem with a breakdown of some form of communication, of alarms or otherwise, and it was found by the EPA that it posed an unacceptable risk to public health and to consumers of that public water supply. There was a 12 day gap where somebody did not issue a boil water notice, knowing that that water was in danger of contamination. There were reports of people who were sick for a considerable period. I asked this question this morning, when I did not get an answer, and will ask it here again. I say that Tallanstown was a microcosm of Leixlip because it started with flooding, moved on to alarms not operating and then moved on to the issue of two audits in the scheme I am referring to, where the response to those audits was unacceptable. Have we learned a lesson from that? Will the witnesses, along with the EPA, be looking at the audits that have not been acted upon with a view to putting those on the remedial action list that the EPA referred to?

I have a number of comments about other issues. The witnesses mentioned voluntary registration. In my experience, in Louth, other than the odd text and email to public representatives, the public do not receive notification unless they have voluntarily registered.

When boil water notices go on for a long period of time, there is no excuse for people not to be informed, whether by the local authority or Irish Water, which has a list of domestic and non-domestic supplies. I was involved in a group water scheme for 21 years. The information is there but it needs to be transmitted to people when there is a boil water notice.

I understand the issue of tankers. There is no excuse not to provide people with bottled water when there are boil water notices. I want that addressed, whether for small schemes or large schemes covered by Leixlip. I sent at least ten emails to Irish Water, which were responded to but in which there was not one mention of the EPA reports. I ask for those reports to be made available, as they come about, to members of the local authorities and to Dáil representatives. There need to be regular meetings of public representatives, whether national or otherwise. My blood has boiled over the past 105 days, as has that of the public, but I smile when I hear how alarms do not operate. The Cavan Hill water scheme in Louth, which was one of the biggest in the country at the time, used fish to move from one tank to the other when there was contamination. It is beyond me that the alarm systems, with all their modern technology, were not responded to. Tallanstown was a microcosm of Leixlip because there was a breakdown in communication as to who was in charge of the plant. I understand that people were on holidays at the time. People are very concerned about the quality of water.

To what degree is the EPA monitoring the water at the extraction point, before it goes into treatment? I can go on for a week about issues relating to the River Glyde supply, whether in the form of aluminium from the mine in Magheracloone, which was flagged to Irish Water, or pesticides. What is the cause of the flooding in water, which has not been a problem heretofore?