Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a brief contribution to this topical and important discussion. It has been the tradition on such occasions to compliment our Opposition colleagues for giving us an opportunity to contribute on these matters of concern, so I wish to compliment Deputy Phil Hogan in that regard. I am not afraid to compliment the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, either. I heard what he has done in Clare and he has certainly been helpful to me in Dublin south west, particularly in Tallaght. If he has an opportunity to visit Tallaght again over the next 70 days before the election, I will be delighted to welcome him there.

It is important to discuss the issue of water supplies, which concerns everyone. Whenever I contacted the Minister's staff I have found them to be most helpful. Other colleagues have also referred to the efficacy of local authority staff. I can echo that view with regard to Dublin south west where local authority staff have been very helpful. I have had to bring concerns to their attention, however, and I have also had words with local authority management concerning issues that were brought to my attention. Water shortages must be dealt with effectively at community level.

We have all seen the television images of floods in Australia, which highlights the fact that we have no control over extreme weather conditions. The adverse weather conditions in December brought home the problems associated with meteorological extremes. We need to learn from mistakes that were made in previous years. I am glad that there has been a lot of progress in that regard, although people were left without water in the recent freezing conditions.

In common with other colleagues, I received many calls over the Christmas period arising from the adverse weather, particularly concerning water shortages. People may have been somewhat surprised to see me entering my constituency office on Christmas day. I am not saying this to sound virtuous, but I was dealing with calls from people in different parts of my constituency who had been left without water.

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