Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Alerting people and planning for a continuing problem is the right thing to do. The conservation message is hitting home and it needs to be reinforced. It is important that we do that. There are particular sectors that we will have to be careful about in terms of water supply. The availability of drinking water is the priority, followed by supply for hospitals, industry and farmers.

We have experienced summers when the opposite has been the case, including a huge downpour that caused dreadful flooding. Increased rather than decreased rainfall is more typical of our summers. This fine weather is welcome but it has shown that we need to plan for climate change in the longer term.

During the winter we had the fodder shortage crisis and there is now also a summer fodder shortage crisis. We are also experiencing huge expansion in the national herd, for which there are opportunities in China but all of these crises should be sending us a message as well. I am sure the farming sector is paying some attention to that crisis.

I echo that conservation is the priority. I urge people to conserve water because in overusing they might be denying their neighbour a supply.

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