Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We all want to see water quality improving. There is unanimity in the room on this. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications will come before the committee shortly. A week ago we had torrential rain. The waste treatment plant in my home town cannot handle the rain water. The sluice gates are opened and it ends up in the River Suir. This happens on a regular basis. How can we know there is an improvement in water quality? How can we attribute it? Perhaps the scientists can do so. There is reference to urban waste and agricultural disimprovement. We all want water quality to improve.

I will speak about the county I know best, which is Tipperary. In that county there are 68 settlements with no waste treatment plant of any description. Some of these are on the banks of the River Suir. The capacity is insufficient for the population in some of the larger towns. We will make major economic decisions that will have a serious impact on economic viability. This is also with regard to our climate change targets. The point has been made that land availability for forestry will disappear. Forestry will not be able to compete for land and this will have significant economic consequences. I will not speak about the impact at individual farm level as it has been well emphasised at the meeting. Important decisions will be made. When officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications comes before the committee, I will ask how water quality issues are determined between municipal and agricultural causes. Major decisions are being made but our water quality infrastructure is not at the level it should be.