Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I am delighted the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is present for this debate. I wish to focus attention on a serious issue affecting the people of Ennis. One takes for granted the quality of one's drinking water if issues regarding that quality do not arise. The Minister of State may be aware through coverage by the national media that for some time the county town's 25,000 residents have experienced problems with the water supply. It is partly a legacy of the rapid expansion of the town which 20 years ago had a population of approximately 10,000.

The result is that at different periods, particularly after heavy rainfall or a long dry spell, the town council, in consultation with the HSE, must issue a boil notice because of the risk of ingesting e-coli bacteria. The long-term solution is the provision of the sanctioned €6.5 million filtration plant which is not due to be completed until late 2007. That is two years from now.

The short-term solution is the provision of tankers of fresh water which could be augmented by the supply of bottled water for free or at a subsidised rate. Not everyone has a car to transport large containers of water. Another possible short-term solution is an investigation into the contamination source of the Ennis water supply. This could be conducted by a team of specialist consultant engineers. It would require departmental funding but that would be money well spent and would contribute to the long-term viability of the water. Much work has been done on the groundwater flows following an environmental impact study of the River Fergus drainage scheme. An extension of that type of study would be worthwhile and might contribute to the improvement of the town's water supply. I appeal to the Minister of State to consider this option seriously.

The issue is partly one of confidence, which has been eroded among the people of Ennis. Further afield, the message has gone out that one should not drink the water in Ennis. It does not make the winner of the 2005 Tidy Towns competition an attractive place in which to live or invest. Despite the assurances of the town council that a partial boil notice covering young people, children and immuno-deficient people is a precautionary measure, confidence in the town's water supply is at an all-time low.

I urge the Minister of State to impress on the county manager the necessity to sanction the use of tankers of fresh water without delay. I understand this would involve considerable expense over a two-year period. Perhaps an allocation of funds might be made for this unique situation. It is unacceptable that people of limited means, particularly parents of young children, should either pay for overpriced bottled water in supermarkets or experience the cost and inconvenience of boiling water. This is a stealth tax. With bottled water more expensive than petrol in many instances, people are paying rip-off prices. Their only alternative is to boil water. This is an expensive and not very palatable drink over a long period. The council says the "boil" notice currently applies to a small number of people. That is not the point, however. That a vulnerable group of people or those acting on their behalf are expected to fork out money to guarantee their fresh drinking water requirements is grossly unfair. The council has admitted that the water supply will be vulnerable until a new treatment plant is put in place. That simply is not good enough in terms of assessment of the water supply for a town the size of Ennis. An alternative to tankers might be a subsidised scheme of bottled water in conjunction with one of the major bottling companies.

Taxpayers should expect to have clean drinking water. I commend those businesses that have reduced their bottled water prices in Ennis. In this regard, I ask the water supply companies, wholesalers and supermarkets, to take a look at their pricing policies. All this underlines the urgency of a speedy end to the filtration project. I understand work on the plant will not start until next year and that the Department has approved the council's tender documents with some amendments. Five short-listed consortiums will have a four-month period to respond to those tenders. In turn, the analysis of those responses will take some time. The official reckoning is that this project will take up to two years to complete. Then it is expected the eventual contractor will require 15 months to commission and build the plant.

I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to do all in his power to speed up the process. I understand it is complex, involving design, build and operate contracts. However, in this case even weeks and months could make a difference to the quality of people's lives. There may be other mechanisms by which the minimum notice period under the public procurement process could be amended, given the urgency of the situation. There may be other windows of opportunity where a sense of urgency could prevail. In the meantime, some form of State-sponsored fresh water scheme is the least Ennis residents can expect while the contamination problem is being resolved. I urge the Minister of State to look at those options in the short-term.

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