Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will do my best to respond to every issue. I wanted to put certain information on the record in my initial response, as I thought it was important after what we had come through. I will need more than two minutes to properly explain this.

On the forewarning put in place, as Irish Water stood on the national emergency co-ordination group, we discussed these issues in advance of the weather event. We were told there was a particular ground temperature, -7° Celsius, below which we could expect significant disruption due to breakages in the system as the ground thawed. This is similar to what we saw in 2010. Deputy O'Callaghan will be familiar with this as our constituency suffered badly from it. We monitored the weather over the course of the week. It was apparent that the temperature would fall below -7° Celsius and we would have significant problems. In addition, problems arose in places such as Fethard and there was an ongoing problem with algae in the Vartry water system. We were looking at all these things and preparing Irish Water teams and co-ordinating with the ESB where outages affected the chlorination facilities in some plants. As the information came in, we looked ahead and prepared for all these things. A point comes when one has to decide when one will inform the public because what one does not want is a run on water. If the public is told that it might be necessary to introduce restrictions the following week, it might immediately impact the water supply, as people go to fill reserve tanks and fill baths because they are worried they may have no water. We had to make a judgment call as to when that ought to be done. Jerry Grant made the call at the appropriate time to manage public expectations as to what might happen. I will return shortly to how restrictions have worked or did not work in certain areas when we introduced lower pressure.

We must acknowledge that it is not a perfect system. It is not like an electricity system when one can press a button and things come back on immediately. It involves pressure and often gravity to get the proper flow into the system. We must also remember that the system is underground. Whereas most electricity outages would be above ground or in specific facilities, many of the water breakages that occurred were below ground and it takes more time to fix them. We appreciate that members of the public understand that, as well as their patience, as we address these issues.

I agree with speakers about communications. I know very well the importance of communications on the ground, having been a councillor in 2010 during the last severe disruptions in the Dublin area in particular. We are working to ensure our communications are released in a timely manner. As for any communications that came out of the national emergency co-ordination group during the storm weather event, I decided who would communicate what and when they would do so. The experts we had in the room communicated specific issues as and when they needed to during the week. Jerry Grant has been doing an excellent job in clearly communicating to the public the exact issues we face.

I think Deputy Ó Broin referred to some people, perhaps commentators, misleading the public on why we were experiencing shortages. Communication is key. Earlier today, the national emergency co-ordination group discussed a more detail form of communications that will issue shortly. Some restrictions did not work. If we reduced the pressure low enough to where there were breakages, it would mean there was no water at all. Where people live in higher parts of buildings, they did not get water. We reviewed that and restrictions were eased as a result, both in level of pressure, particularly in parts of the greater Dublin area, but also the times at which the restrictions were put in place to recognise that where restrictions came back too late in the morning, it would impact on people being able to get to work or to school. It is not like electricity, however. If we go to turn the taps on again at 6 a.m. it does not necessarily mean that water will come out of people's taps at home at that time. That said, when the water is running during the day, that is the opportunity for tanks in attics to fill. Most people's tanks will have a 24-hour water supply in them. Those water tanks will fill over the course of the day so long as there is not a break in the local area and the pressure is at the right level, which we are working on at the moment, which is what we are working on and think we have resolved in most parts of the city.

Emergency water needs are prioritised at the national emergency co-ordination group. The fire service, the Defence Forces, the HSE and the Department of Health are all in the room to ensure that we can put emergency supplies in place for hospitals, schools and fire stations. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Irish Water has some experience of dealing with emergency situations and is putting its expertise and the lessons it has learned over the past four years to use in the current crisis.

Deputy Cowen asked about the water advisory board. We are going to move to an interim water advisory board because I need to go through the Public Appointments Service to fill the last two places. During the six months it may take to do that we will set the board up on an interim basis and when the two places are filled through the PAS system, we will have the full complement for the water advisory board.

Capital investment will increase because of the deed documents we have put into the initial plan to 2021 and also the national development plan. This is sufficient investment for our water system and for what we want to do.

Reference was made to the water restrictions in the greater Dublin area. The situation is improving every night. As it has improved, we have been able to ease the restrictions. The restrictions began as a 12 hour period but this has shortened now. We will see what we can do as we monitor the ongoing improvements being made in building capacity back in to the system. This is a night-time restriction. During the day people's water tanks will fill automatically as long as the pipe is not broken outside the house. They will have water when they need it in the evening and in the morning. We are working on a timeline for how long the restrictions will be in place. We hope that by the end of the week or into the weekend the supplies will be maintained outside the greater Dublin area and for every supply, other than the Fethard area in Tipperary. We have to be clear and honest with people in the greater Dublin area. The current night-time restrictions will continue next week. I am continuing my conversations with Irish Water and I will be with it again tomorrow to see if we can map out a proper plan to manage those restrictions. Every night that we make improvements in terms of treated water in the system we can ease those restrictions into the future.

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