Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. This is an extremely serious public health issue. It constitutes a crisis for the people of Galway and could become a crisis in many other locations. I appreciate the EPA has asked local authorities to identify immediately areas in which public water supply may be theoretically at risk. I ask the Minister to provide Members with this information as soon as possible.

The key question is why water tankers have not been deployed in Galway to supply households. The Minister should respond. Can the Minister comment on the report published in The Irish Times today that suggests the cause may be human contamination as a result of a complete malfunction of a sewerage works in a particular location? The report states this extremely serious issue is due to over-development. These are serious issues for Galway city and county, as well as for many other locations nationwide.

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