Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with Deputy Bailey, the Chairman of the relevant committee, in offering and committing our party's support for the committee's contention, and I hope and expect that others will do likewise. The drinking water quality directives have not been updated in 20 years and we acknowledge the need for an update to ensure the quality of our water is in line with relevant standards across the EU.

At last week's meeting, Irish Water, the Department and the association of group and private schemes informed us that the directive went way beyond the recommendations of the WHO and this sounded alarm bells for everybody, despite the Government's policy commitment and the capital programme of Irish Water to repair leaks and to improve the quality and delivery of water to various parts of the country, particularly Dublin, in view of what has happened in recent months. Any expectation over and beyond what is reasonable places a huge strain on Irish Water and the State in terms of their responsibility to group and private water schemes and would render Irish Water unable to adhere to its capital programme to maintain and upgrade its existing systems.

I understand that four countries out of six have voiced similar concerns to our own. Members of the committee are of the view that subsidiarity means that, if 16 nations raise questions, a directive has to be redrawn and that approach would receive unanimous support from my party. I urge the Minister to converse with his counterparts across the EU to ensure other states agree with us that the directive goes far beyond the requirements for safe water delivery, despite the fact it is well meaning. The quality has improved over the past 20 years and we accept that it has to improve more. We would support the allocation of funding to do it but it has to be done within the context of existing commitments to repair and maintain the system. It has to be borne in mind that there has only been adequate investment in the past ten or 12 years. I ask for the Dáil to ensure the right action is taken on this issue.

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