Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. Many of my questions have already been asked. Everybody has to be very concerned about the quality of our waters and we have regulations in place. The funny thing is the witnesses said at the beginning that the problem is mainly caused by human activity. My belief is that the problem is the lack of human activity. I can bring the witnesses around west Cork any time they are free and show them raw sewage going into the tide from towns and villages. I can only speak for my constituency in west Cork, but it is not because of lack of effort by local people in towns and villages, whether it is Castletownshend or Goleen, and I can name a good few more, to try to turn it around. They have made superhuman, gallant efforts to stop this from happening and to bring the people who own the properties around the table with the council, Irish Water and others, but nothing happens.

It looks to me that if the farmer makes an infringement, the heavy weight of the law of the land will be brought down on him but if the local authority, Irish Water or whoever is breaking the rules, we publish its name on some paper. Publishing names on papers is not good enough; we want action. We want our towns and villages to have clean and clear water. Some of these towns and villages are the most beautiful places in which to live and holiday in the world. This is a sad reflection on society. The finger is continuously being pointed at the farmer when raw sewage is pumping into the tide from outdated wastewater plants, which were probably built in the 1940s and 1950s and were never capable of carrying what they were supposed to. Unfortunately, those plants are being overlooked. Their names are being published but nothing else is happening. We are drifting towards 2027 with the whole thing out of control and no solutions being put forward. If a farmer creates an infringement, there are many laws, rules and regulations around. What are the laws, rules and regulations if Irish Water or a local wastewater plant is pumping raw sewage into the tide continuously, year after year?