Mr. Gerard O'Leary:

I spent ten years working in Tipperary County Council so I have some interest in County Tipperary, even though I am a Cork man. There are no boil water notices in Tipperary. We published a list and reports on drinking water and urban wastewater which we hope to update in the next couple of weeks. Not to diminish the problem, the locations are mostly in coastal areas. I was asked about this previously and I wish to be clear that in those cases there is no treatment of sewage - the toilet is flushed and everything goes in - and many of these areas are popular bathing areas.

In last year's drinking water report we highlighted in particular the issue of boil water notices in Roscommon. Whereas boil water notices are not new, of the 23,000 we estimate that, of today, 21,000 are in County Roscommon.