Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. O'Mara. All of the witnesses made important points. Nobody wants to damage or pollute water supplies. We are all aware that it is finite and precious. We rely on it. It is a staple of human life, with everything that goes with it. Dr. Crowe talked about a collaborative approach and I entirely agree. It is the same approach needed to address climate. We cannot say it is the fault of one group and that it needs to do something. Every one of us plays a part in using and polluting water. Every house in the country sends gallons of contaminated water to wastewater treatment plants. We have not even spoken about abstraction today, which is another issue. The impact that climate will have on water networks, sedimentation of rivers, flow and all the other aspects is significant.

On behalf of the committee, I thank the witnesses for their assistance and expertise. We will compile a report based on the meeting. We could not invite every stakeholder group. We thought, at short notice, that the witnesses here today were representative of all the groups. I thank Teagasc, the Water Forum, SWAN and An Taisce for being here. We will send a copy of our submission when the committee has agreed it.