Mr. Des Joyce:

Over the past couple of years we have developed a national water resources plan. It is a 25-year strategy for the direction of travel in terms of water supply investment in the country. One of the important pieces of work that was done with that was looking at the sustainability of the supply across the country. A lot of our supplies down the west coast are very small supplies of small lakes and boreholes. Some of them are sustainable but many are not. Out of this national resources plan we will develop more distinct plans depending on which of these have the greatest need in terms of water availability.

We have started work on a much more detailed feasibility study with regard to the three Aran Islands, Inishbofin and Whiddy Island. We are currently scoping that out but the intention would be to develop a long-term plan for how we supply those islands. There is nothing easy about how that is done so we need to take our time in getting it right and look at all the options that are available. In the meantime, we are tankering water out to Inis Oírr twice a day in some cases. Unfortunately, until we deliver this solution that is probably what is going to happen during these peak summer months.