John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I preface my remarks by acknowledging the extraordinary work undertaken by the men and women of our emergency services and the staff of local authorities and other agencies who have had a very challenging time over the past few days. They have operated very effectively. That said, 1.2 million people in the greater Dublin area are affected by water shortages and restrictions. While I acknowledge that it was intended or at least advertised that it was restrictions which would be put in place, for many people it has become an actual cutting off of water. The debate has not been helped by the impression being given that it is the result of people leaving taps running. It is not fair to say that today people are using more water in their own homes than they were on Wednesday of last week. The bulk of the problem affecting us now is the direct result of increased leaks, both large leaks and a number of minor ones. It is not helping the debate at all to indicate that families are leaving taps to run and so forth when there is no evidence of that.

As I said, it was indicated that restrictions would be put in place but the reality is that when the pressure is turned down, the water is off for a number of hours. I acknowledge the change in time back to 6 a.m., particularly as it takes a number of hours before the water comes back to the tap after the flow is increased. A gentleman in Harelawn told me that when the water was turned on at 7 a.m. on the first morning, it did not arrive at his taps until 9 a.m. Changing the time makes a big difference. The major concern is the uncertainty regarding this issue. Irish Water has indicated that there may be a problem requiring restrictions for several months in the Dublin area. I ask the Minister to work with Irish Water to provide whatever additional resources are necessary to address the problems that have been caused as a direct result of the recent severe weather and, in the longer term, to build that into the future capital programme.

See this speech in context