Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this Topical Issue matter. Its primary purpose is to give effect to the potential for additional conservation measures such as a so-called hosepipe ban, but also restrictions on the use of commercial car washing facilities, whether formal or informal. I want to state very clearly that I am not very interested in draconian measures, but we must look at communities such as Skerries in north County Dublin. Only two weeks ago in this Chamber the Minister of State responded to all Members representing Dublin Fingal across all parties on the chronic shortage of water affecting a part of that particular community. People there had no water for 48 hours in some instances. It is appropriate for us to look at the implementation of hosepipe bans, administered either through Irish Water or through the local authority. I believe the latter would be the more appropriate. This is a serious issue that will need to be addressed until such time as the capital and, indeed, other parts of the country have a water supply capable of withstanding more than a few days of sunshine. Today is a beautiful day. The temperature is in the high twenties in Dublin. I am sure it is higher elsewhere in the country. However, so far as I am aware, there are six locations in the State that are without water at the moment, including one location in my constituency and another in County Longford.

I got a text message this morning from a constituent who was advising me that there was a queue for the car wash at a service station in an area of north County Dublin affected by water throttling. I am sure that there will be people who will, perhaps unknowingly, be watering their gardens, potted plants or whatever it might be. We have to take responsibility for the chronic underfunding of water infrastructure in this State not just in the last few years or the last decade, but over generations. We know of the problems. We have identified them through the work programme Irish Water has worked out and through work which local authorities have done for generations.

It is also appropriate for us to recognise that it will be some time before we have the sort of headroom that other European nations have. Many of these operate at between 80% and 90% of capacity whereas Dublin operates at 97%. To put some figures on it, the production capacity for the greater Dublin area is 610 million litres per day. At the height of last summer our usage was 566 million litres per day. On Monday our usage was 609 million litres. The headroom figure for the entire area was 1 million litres. We have to have a real conversation not just with ourselves, but with our neighbours. A Newstalk journalist carried out a straw poll online yesterday. It was not very scientific. There were three questions. It asked what one would do if one saw someone wasting water or watering his or her garden during a period of drought when there were water restrictions in place. More than 60% of respondents said that they would do nothing. We really need to do something rather than saying nothing and not even approaching the person to ask if he or she is aware that a water restriction is in place.

Until such time as we can resolve our supply and leakage issues, among other things, this particular measure, which is contained in the Water Services Act 2007, should be implemented and its administration should be delegated to local authorities.

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