Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As has been said, 600,000 households in counties Dublin, Kildare and Meath are today subject to a boil water notice. I heard the Irish Water customer service manager on radio this morning, who was unclear on how long the notice would last. She speculated that it might be a number of days, as the Taoiseach has just said. The lack of clarity will do very little to assure or comfort the 600,000 families affected. I am particularly concerned about families with young children, older citizens and those with illnesses.

For them, this is not just an inconvenience, it is a source of real stress and worry.

Of course, we can be sure this is not the only boil water notice that has been issued this year. In 2018, 44 boil water notices were issued, affecting 14 counties and, in 2017, 21 notices were issued. The one currently in place is the biggest ever issued in the State.

An incident at Leixlip water plant gave rise to this boil water notice. It is not yet fully clear what happened at Leixlip; we simply do not know. We do know that there was a previous incident at the Leixlip water plant in March of this year. At that time, a pump failure compromised the quality and purity of the water. In response to that incident, the office of environmental enforcement of the EPA carried out an audit. That audit was published on 3 April this year and issued specific recommendations and stipulated that Irish Water must submit a report to the agency within one month of the date of publication, which was by May 2019.

We do not know if the incident yesterday is related to the previous incident in March. We do not know if it was a repetition of the incident in March but we need to find out. As the Taoiseach said, Leixlip is a relatively new water plant and, like many water plants, it is privately run under the design, build and operate public private partnerships, PPPs, so beloved of, and delivered by, Fianna Fáil.

Families need to know that the treatment and provision of their water is to the highest standard. They need to know that water plants are managed and operated properly. Does the Taoiseach know if the incident yesterday is related to the incident at the same plant in March? Did Irish Water respond to the EPA report of that time within the month stipulated and were the recommendations addressed? Is the Taoiseach satisfied that the design, build and operate contract in operation at that plant in Leixlip is fit for purpose?

See this speech in context