Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Ryan for his presentation. To put this in context, we are asking questions today on behalf of not only the 615,000 people who are affected by a second boil water notice in two weeks, which are the most significant ever in this country to my collection, but many thousands of other people. The witnesses are here to answer the public through our questions.

I have read the audit report of 24 October. Like Senator Boyhan, I would like to touch on the recommendation regarding UV treatment.

According to the EPA audit report, "the level of treatment at this plant [Leixlip] is not sufficient to manage the risk posed by the River Liffey source water". Dr. Ryan made that point again earlier. Was the March 2019 audit the first time the EPA made this point, or does it go way back to the 2008 report? While I acknowledge Dr. Ryan's clear statement that "the overall quality of drinking water remains high, with 99.9% compliance with microbiological standards", these two significant outages have significantly rocked people's confidence in the water supply. All witnesses must realise how angry, upset and concerned people are about this. I will deal with more of that when representatives of the Department, Irish Water and Fingal County Council are in attendance.

Dr. Ryan has mentioned a recommendation that was made recently. As far as I can see, it was made in March of this year. Was that the first time UV treatment was recommended? I am particularly concerned about the automatic shutdown now in place in Leixlip. It is to be welcomed. An automatic shutdown was recommended in March. According to Dr. Ryan's opening statement, in May of this year, the EPA received a response from Irish Water to the effect that "the automatic plant shutdown arrangement was implemented". He is now saying that it was partially implemented only. I ask him to comment on that. I know it is in place now. That is important.

As someone who is eminently qualified in this area and is certainly better qualified than me, will he explain what happens with the lag time when an issue is found? I invite any of his colleagues who wish to come in on this matter to do so. A couple of weeks ago, there was an outage following an incident that began at 3 p.m. on Monday, 21 October and ended at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, 22 October. It ran for 18 hours, in effect. The plant was shut down at 10.15 p.m. on the Monday night. Many people have told me that there is serious concern about contaminants getting into the system in the intervening period. I know that those involved need to sit down for a meeting. What happens in these circumstances? Is Dr. Ryan happy that boil water notices are issued as quickly as possible? That is the fundamental point. I am asking about the current outage as well as last month's outage.