Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Reports have come in this morning that 39 people who include at least one minor have been found dead in a container in Essex. The information we have so far this is very sketchy, but there are some reports that the truck may have passed through Ireland at some point. Obviously, we will need to obtain more information and carry out any necessary investigation that may be required. Everyone's thoughts are with those who have died and their families. It is a really terrible human tragedy. We will carry out any investigation that is necessary if it is established that the truck passed through Ireland.

On the major boil water notice covering north Dublin and counties Kildare and Meath, the incident has given rise to serious disruption and resulted in more than 600,000 people and many businesses being subject to inconvenience. The boil water notice covers my constituency and home and I understand it may last for several days. The Government's concern, first and foremost, is to ensure people's health is protected from any risk as a result of this incident. We want to see the notice being lifted without undue delay but only as soon as the water supply is deemed to be safe. Irish Water, the HSE and the EPA are all working to ensure this will happen as quickly as possible and keeping the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and the Government informed. The EPA is conducting an investigation to find out exactly what went wrong at the water treatment plant and why. I am informed that a fault at the plant in Leixlip resulted in water that had not been fully treated entering the distribution network for a period of time on Monday. Once the fault was detected on Monday evening, the plant was shut down and the fault quickly repaired. The plant was back brought into full production on Tuesday morning and is now producing treated water in full compliance with water safety requirements. However, because partially treated water needs to work its way through the entirety of the network and the test results need to show that this has happened, estimates from Irish Water and the EPA suggest it will take approximately 24 to 48 hours for the water to fully flow through the water network. As the water that did get into the system was chlorinated at all times, the main risk comes from chlorine tolerated microorganisms that could have made it past the treatment systems into the treated water network. In terms of engagement with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, I do not have the exact timelines, but if I can get them, I will pass them on.

See this speech in context