Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I note that the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, is present. I am quite disappointed that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is not here for this debate, particularly as we are talking about water outages affecting, as Deputy Farrell mentioned, hundreds of houses and thousands of residents. This has not just been happening since last Thursday. We have regularly had issues with regard to water supply and water pressure in the area.

The standard of communication from Irish Water has improved in the past two days, which is welcome. I have spoken directly with the chief executive, Mr. Jerry Grant, on a number of occasions. I understand that Irish Water is now proposing to provide a booster pumping station in the area in order to deal with the issue once and for all. As a result of the fact that the 30-inch main in Swords is being replaced, there is a reduction in the water supply and an increase in demand because of the warmer weather. However, this situation has obtained since last Thursday. It is becoming an issue of health and hygiene that affects young families, many of them in the areas of Barnageeragh, Hamilton Hill and Town Parks.

Water is an absolute right. It is a necessity. It is required. I am asking the Government to back up the commitments that Irish Water, through its CEO, Mr. Jerry Grant, gave me to the effect that it will carry out whatever capital works are necessary and invest whatever money is required in order to rectify this problem once and for all. In the interim, we need measures that will ensure that the supply is constant to this part of Skerries in the north of my constituency. I need a commitment from the Government that it will financially back the request from Irish Water in order to ensure that any capital works that are required to rectify this problem once and for all are carried out. Residents will be meeting Irish Water this evening. I welcome that. We need to improve our communications in that regard and we need to quickly rectify this problem once and for all for the good of thousands of people in north Fingal.

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