Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank Irish Water for the work it is doing in very difficult circumstances, the partnerships it is developing with organisations such as the IFA and other organisations and the partnerships it has with local authorities. This allows it to concentrate on the areas that are feeling the most water stress and shortage right now in order to ensure the resources, experience and skill sets in Irish Water, which come from economies of scale, can give the response that is necessary as quickly as possible.

Second, nobody is blaming householders. What we in government are doing is asking the country to respond in the way it did during other extreme weather circumstances earlier in the year, when communities came together and supported one another. They should be doing that now as well to ensure that neighbours take other neighbours into account in how they use water over the coming weeks, given the lack of rainfall and the obvious shortages that will come from that. That appeal from Government is something I hope communities, individual householders and businesses will heed.

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