Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to see the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, but I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Gormley, is not here to hear this important debate. Perhaps he has other engagements — I was often in that impasse and understand why one must cut one's cloth according to what one has.

I hope the Minister of State can ad lib as well as stating what he was told by the Department. A sinister development has taken place. It has become a fait accompli that the water to supply the east coast, or the greater Dublin area as it is called in friendly fashion, will come from the Shannon catchment area and Lough Ree. Before we sleepwalk into a disaster brought upon ourselves, let us examine the facts. There was no consultation on this frightening proposal. The EU framework directive of 2000 stated that a guiding tenet was full consultation with interested parties. Other options for supplying water have been dismissed blithely in cavalier fashion, leading to the conclusion that the only option is to abstract water from the Shannon and Lough Ree. The Minister of State's county, County Clare, will be affected, as will counties Tipperary, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, but the main abstraction will be from the Shannon area around Athlone and Lough Ree. Grave disquiet is building about the way the proposal flouts the framework directive in an obvious fashion.

Dublin has everything, including the Luas and other facilities. Now it is proposing to take our water and leave us in an arid situation, like a desert. Flippant remarks have been made to the effect that people from the region are always talking about flooding. We do not wish the source of tourism and our natural heritage to be taken away. The low-lying meadows in the callows around Athlone are in a special area of conservation. Nevertheless, if the Ceann Comhairle will excuse the pun, this status will be ditched in favour of the rape of our water. The constant leakage of Dublin water will not be corrected and, in a cavalier fashion, our water will be taken.

Other proposals have been ditched. The aquifer, which could supply a viable amount of water for daily consumption in the Dublin region, is about to have a huge landfill dump built upon it. It will be the largest in Europe, built on top of the source of the aquifer. When people wake up and suggest examining the aquifer, it will be too late.

The desalination proposal, carried out successfully in Spain and Portugal, is not considered because of high energy costs. That is a load of bilge that I totally debunk. This is a serious matter. Dublin City Council should get its hands off our water, which we need for our purposes, including recreational, ecological and environmental reasons. We have already fought the battle about the special area of conservation. We have come to make our peace with those who require special areas of conservation. Europe regards them as very important.

How far has this process gone? There was no consultation with elected representatives, sporting and tourism interests or the local population. It is a case of uisce faoi thalamh, if another pun can be permitted. Perhaps county managers have come together to decide this is the way forward and that water is only for ordinary people and not very important. I hope the Minister of State can confirm that all options are being considered. Otherwise, I will continue this crusade for a long time.

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