Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As we speak, there are approximately 20,000 households without water, 50,000 with a reduced flow of water and more than 1 million in Dublin with a restricted supply. The programme for Government contains a commitment to protect plans set out by Irish water to upgrade our water infrastructure. The events of recent days highlight the fact that the capital investment plan, published by the previous Government of which the Taoiseach was a member, is not sufficient to address the challenges posed. Domestic water charges have been overwhelmingly rejected. Lest the Taoiseach feels tempted to make the link between that matter and the difficulties in the here and now, he should bear in mind that Irish Water has exactly the same amount of capital funding as it would have done had domestic water charges gone ahead. Is he prepared to make a commitment for additional capital funding for 2019 to start getting to grips with this?

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