Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

The people of County Clare experienced extreme hardship throughout the Christmas period because of interruptions in the water supply. Extreme weather conditions exposed the shortcomings in the water infrastructure throughout the country. County Clare was one of the counties worst affected. I compliment the outdoor staff of Clare County Council on their work throughout the holiday period, in particular Seán Heaney, the water caretaker in Ennis and his crew, for their work in restoring the water supply. Their task was made so much more difficult due to the under-investment in critical water infrastructure over many years.

In the limited time available to me now, I will concentrate on the issue of the Ennis water supply which has experienced many problems over the past number of years including the issue of boil-water notices, cryptosporidium and the quantity of water available to people. The recent harsh weather exposed the limitations of the water supply. On many occasions I have raised in the House the need to prioritise and deliver in full the Ennis water augmentation scheme, but my requests have fallen on deaf ears. Deputy Timmy Dooley issued a "Dooley News" over the Christmas period in which he stated that this scheme had been delivered in full but this is not the case. The people of Ennis, Clarecastle, Bearfield, Doora and Crusheen did not have water for days because of the failure of Fianna Fáil to deliver this scheme. This is not acceptable. A total of 30,000 people depend on this water supply and it is not good enough that they had no water because some aspects of the scheme are still outstanding. A new reservoir at Edenvale, a new pumping station at Clare Abbey and improved extraction capacity at Castle Lake need to be delivered.

I am demanding that funding be released to deliver this scheme in full. I ask the Minister of State to do this today as a priority. We have had enough fudge on this issue. Water is a basic need and the town of Ennis depends on it. I ask the Minister of State to pick up the telephone and make it happen today and that funding be released to deliver that scheme.

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