Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé thar a bheith sásta an deis a thapú chun cúpla focail a rá ar son an rún seo agus tá mé sásta nach bhfuil an Rialtas ag dul in aghaidh an rún. Tá sé sin tábhachtach freisin agus gabhaim buíochas don dream neamhspleách as ucht an rún a chur os comhair na Dála.

I want to thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing this motion forward. I have no hesitation in supporting it and I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing it. It has been well laid out, but a number of statistics jump out at me. I am very familiar with them after spending 17 years listening to report after report at local authority level. In the 21st century, in 2018, we still have raw sewage from the equivalent of 88,000 people in 38 towns and villages flowing into the environment every day. We know that wastewater is one of the main threats to the quality of our rivers, lakes and estuaries.

I am not going to read the rest of the motion. However, I wish to note the fact that there was a significant reduction in the Department's funding for group water schemes at the time when they were most needed. I want to pay tribute to the group water schemes and to those people who have worked very hard to keep them going. They deserve our thanks.

I want to make some comments about Irish Water in that context, as someone who was fundamentally opposed to its establishment. Never once did I personalise the issue. For 17 years I watched a local authority starved of funds. Report after report told us what needed to be done but we had no money in good times or bad. In Galway, 40% leakage was recorded. We knew that. We begged for assistance and we did not get it.

It was a very bad decision to set up Irish Water. It was a waste of money when the local authorities were starved of funds. I say that as someone who was an absolutely committed city councillor, who lived through cryptosporidium and indeed suffered from it at the time, through the lead debacle and so on. The expertise was at local authority level. The people of Galway, to use the example of that city, trusted the local authority, interestingly enough. They trusted the engineers who had the knowledge on the ground. All of that was wiped out by the setting up of Irish Water. Suddenly there was no problem with giving money to a vehicle that should never have been set up.

That is done. However, the continued decisions by Irish Water are troubling. For instance, raw sewage is going into the sea in Galway, Spiddal and Carraroe. Last week I went to Clonaslee in Laois. I looked at the integrated constructed wetlands, a site with the potential to cater for a population of up to 800. It looks after 100 households. Raw sewage goes into a natural area and comes out absolutely spotlessly clean. I have to pay tribute to the local authority and indeed Irish Water in this regard. I would love to see those schemes extended. I was there with a group from Inis Oírr who were very interested in applying this solution, albeit in a different environment, the sandy soil on Inis Oírr. I hope that the Government and Irish Water are 100% behind community groups like this which want to participate and want a good system. I have never had any time for NIMBYism, but I believe that various Governments and local authorities have used that word wrongly. For example, practically everyone in Spiddal is unhappy with raw sewage going into the water, but with the help of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Irish Water has picked a site, agus tá an suíomh sin iomlán mí-oiriúnach. Tá sé cúpla slat ón scoil náisiúnta le gasúirí óg ann agus tá sé beartaithe ag Uisce Éireann ionad séarachais a thógáil ansin. Is é toradh an cinneadh sin ná go bhfuil sé os comhair An Bord Pleanála.

The matter in Spiddal has now gone to An Bord Pleanála. It would not have happened if those responsible had made the right decision in the first place, worked with the people on the ground and picked an appropriate site. Similarly, in Carraroe, they have picked a suíomh cois farraige, áit atá thar a bheith mí-oiriúnach, áit álainn ina bhfuil féidirthachtaí iontacha do chúrsaí turasóireachta, do chúrsaí bádóireachta agus do chúrsaí iascaireachta. Is é an rud atá beartaithe ag Uisce Éireann ná ionad cóireála séarachais a chur ar an suíomh sin.

I will translate that. The people of Carraroe are crying out for a treatment plant. However, the site chosen is wrong. We have a battle on our hands rather than co-operation.

Short-sighted decisions are being made at the expense of the people of the area and at the expense of the possibility for tourism, fishing and the use of the area for boats when there is an alternative site available. Uisce Éireann should at least be able to tell us that it has looked at the alternative site and ruled it out. I never wish to be parochial in the Dáil but I use these as two practical examples where the people want a treatment plant, but not what is on offer. The caighdeán - the standard - that is being proposed is basic. Interestingly enough, the Minister of State, Deputy English, might look at this particular project. In 2008, it was withdrawn. At that stage, there was a higher standard of treatment proposed but the Part 8 was withdrawn then because the councillors indicated they would not support it. We move forward but, in fact, we move backwards. In 2018, it is in the hands of Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann has decided to go back and use the same site that the elected members refused to look at in 2008 only this time the treatment standard is lower because, according to Uisce Éireann, it is not near any beaches. There are two beaches that they have not bothered to mention. They stated it is not near any houses but there is a circle of houses. Most importantly, it is on a beautiful inlet, an Cuan Chaisle, and across from Rossaveal, where, on an Údarás site, they have an existing treatment plant that could be upgraded without affecting any house or the area and add to the whole lot.

Ag dul ar ais arís go dtí an bpointe atá á dhéanamh agam, anois tá Uisce Éireann ann ach tá droch-chinntí á dhéanamh ag an eagraíocht sin mar tá sé faoi bhrú rud éicint a dhéanamh. Tá an cosúlacht ar an scéal go mba chuma leis maidir leis an gcinneadh ach é a dhéanamh agus ní féidir liom glacadh leis sin. Anois beidh an dá phlean seo curtha siar arís fad agus atá séarachas ag dul isteach san uisce.

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