Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I believe the Government did get it wrong on this difficult issue, but it listened to people's genuine concerns and I congratulate it and, in particular, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, on taking on board those concerns.

I grew up in Boyle, County Roscommon where there are 24 different local authority groups delivering water services. We were told over the years how good and professional these services were, but obviously they were not. In my town we had what we called "hard" water due to limescale in the water. When people complained about the water, the local engineer would tell one of the workers to throw another few shovelfuls of fluoride into the water system. This took the bad taste out of the water, but I do not believe it was good for people and it corroded the pipes. We tolerated this ad hocapproach, but it did not work.

In County Roscommon, almost 20,000 out of 50,000 people have had a boil water notice for years. This has been going on for 12 years in some areas and for four years in others. This time last year, the Minister came to Roscommon and announced €60 million as part of a major programme of works, which saw the construction of five water treatment plants across County Roscommon. However, this went unnoticed here although it was reported on RTE, in the papers and on local radio stations. Six weeks afterwards, a Deputy from my county pulled a "dirty water" stunt here in the Dáil, and everybody remembers that.

I repeat for the record that €60 million was allocated to alleviate the disgraceful water problems that had continued for 12 years in Roscommon. Thankfully, the new treatment plants will be up and running in the next two or three weeks and businesses and homeowners will no longer face boil water notices. This is an issue I have been able to address in this House and the Government has dealt with the issue. However this is forgotten about when the cheap political stunts we have seen recently have been going on.

People were annoyed when they heard of the bonuses being paid to Irish Water staff and were annoyed by the lack of clarification on the provision of water services and we saw protest marches as a result.Many decent, honest and honourable people took part in these protests because they were fearful of what was to happen. The Government took their fears into account. However, some people have never paid for water, have no intention of paying for water and have no intention of paying for anything. Their one aim is to destabilise the State. I believe that unless something happens, the country will go down that road.

I got involved in politics because I felt I could make a difference, but until then I had no involvement in politics. What happened to the Tánaiste last week must be condemned and deplored.

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