Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé buíoch den Cheann Comhairle as ucht an deis a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú anseo sa Dáil. Is ábhar an-tábhachtach é do 600,000 duine sa tír seo. I believe this week's boil water notice is the largest in the history of the State. We are obviously glad that were told to boil our water if we lived in a particular area for safety reasons, but this raises a number of questions.

First, I ask the Minister to update the House and the people on the situation and when this boil water notice is expected to end. I also ask him to answer some of the other questions that have been raised regarding previous problems in the Leixlip treatment plant this year, including EPA investigations and HSE involvement. Last year, there was a very serious incident of over-chlorination in a particular stretch of the water supply in Kilcloon in my constituency.

The Minister met Irish Water on Monday. I believe this problem was discovered on Monday but it took a full 24 hours for the boil water notice to go into effect. Can the Minister clarify that? What did Irish Water tell him on Monday? Was the 24 hour delay in the boil water notice necessary? I ask him to clarify what he and the Taoiseach said.

The Irish Water website is clearly a matter for Irish Water, but I hope it will learn lessons from this. If 600,000 people are on a boil water notice, its website needs to be able to handle significant traffic. In addition, there was much confusion about which areas were and were not included in the notice, particularly in outlying areas such as my constituency. The local authority information indicated that Dunboyne and Kilcloon were affected. We now know that the issue is the old Dublin Corporation water supply in Leixlip, which is now under Fingal County Council. That is its water supply. Rural parts of Ashbourne were also included in this water supply, which was not clear to residents or the local authority. Conversely, Stamullen in County Meath was highlighted as being affected in various news reports when it was not, although it is better to be careful.

Those are not the most important issues - public safety is the most important one. I accept that if there is a question of public safety, we have to get to the bottom of it. However, citizens are entitled to an update on what is happening. They are also entitled to reassurances that systems are in place to ensure that a safe and drinkable water supply is provided to a huge proportion of this country.

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