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

I thank Dr. Ryan for his presentation and himself and his team for the answers and all the work they do behind the scenes. His regular appearances at this committee are really important because it gives both us as Oireachtas Members and the wider public an opportunity to see the really important work the EPA is doing on working to improve water and wastewater quality. I commend him and all the team on that work as well as the information provided today.

I have two sets of questions. The first focuses specifically on the detail of the EPA report with respect to events in Ballymore Eustace and Gorey. The last time the officials were in talking to us about similar issues was back at the end of 2019 on foot of the boil water notice affecting 600,000 households in Dublin following the problems in the Leixlip plant. Notwithstanding the very specific technical differences, are there any comparisons or parallels between what has happened recently in the two plants and what happened back in 2019? I ask because a programme of work was agreed with Irish Water and the local authorities post 2019 to address those issues. I am interested to know whether that work was done correctly, and if some of it was not might it have led to the problems we have experienced most recently. I am aware that with Leixlip there was a 51-minute delay before the alarms were noticed, etc. but I am very keen to hear the officials' thoughts on that.

The second question relates to the updates the agency publishes regularly on wastewater treatment plants, drinking water quality and in particular those plants or areas - I think we may be down to 19 - that are subject to the European Court of Justice enforcement action. The officials have outlined some of the progress and the agency's 2020 report on drinking water is coming out soon. Will Dr. Ryan comment more specifically on whether he is satisfied with the speed of that progress? I ask because it seems every time we have Irish Water in, the date for the resolution of all these issues is pushed further out. Irish Water blames planning among other things. Is Dr. Ryan satisfied the speed of resolution for these matters is satisfactory? Maybe he can speak specifically to the two areas of drinking water and wastewater treatment. That would be helpful.