Mr. Tom Cuddy:

I have a point on the current year’s situation. Samples and testing that are being done at the moment show that manganese levels in the Dundalk supply are below the compliance limit of 50 mcg per l. Nevertheless, as the Deputy mentions, there may be some areas where flushing is still needed. It may be needed for other reasons, because we do get sedimentation in dead ends, etc.

That is a phenomenon we find everywhere. As far as manganese is concerned, which Ms Ryan touched on, the seasonal peak seems to have passed. Flushing seems to have done the job from the point of view of bringing the water within compliance levels for manganese, but there is an underlying fundamental problem that we will have to address.