Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I get very frustrated over this because, for many years as a councillor, long before I became a Deputy, I heard constant talk about the water shortage in the greater Dublin area. I have been at meeting after meeting over the years. This is going back well over ten years but we are still no closer to having the problem resolved. There are shortages now and there will be more in the future. People find it difficult to understand what is happening. We have a lot of rain in this country, we have just experienced a storm with snow and ice, and there is water everywhere, yet we have a water shortage. In the summer, we will be short of water because of the dry weather. We need to consider the whole infrastructure. We need to fast-track the process by which we supply the greater Dublin area. This is extremely important at this stage.

It is important to note that Irish Water is very much reliant on the local authorities. Taking responsibility from the local authorities was a mistake.

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