Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

I thank Ms Ryan. I apologise for rushing the witnesses but I have limited time. I am going to speak in the Dáil straight after this. There is an issue in relation to the priority given in the small towns and villages programme. Carrignavar is on the outskirts of Cork; it is an area people want to live in. They can be in the countryside but work in the city. There is no capacity. It is not just Carrignavar, there are other areas.

I have a list of the manganese levels which Uisce Éireann tested in Cork. There is a crisis in the north side of Cork. According to the European Union and the World Health Organization, there should be no more than 50 µg/l of manganese in the water. On this list, there is 56 µg/l, 80 µg/l, 128 µg/l, 96 µg/l, 124 µg/l and 121 µg/l. The water is poison. This is not me saying this; this is the World Health Organization, the European Union and Uisce Éireann's own testing tells us the water in the taps in some areas is poison. For infants and young children, manganese in the water has a huge effect on their immune systems. Areas were tested on 8 and 15 January where manganese levels were 128 µg/l. People were not notified until 21 February that the water they drank in January was poison.