Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a lot in the Deputy's question, and a number of hours were spent detailing these issues last week at the Oireachtas joint committee. What I can say is that the March event and the October event were two different types of event. One concerned chemical treatment, the other biological treatment. The root cause of why we had to issue a boil water notice in October was that in both instances, the emergency alarm that was activated did not lead to a stop in production. That has since been remedied. There is now an automatic kill switch where the alarm is raised. That was recommended to be put in in March and Irish Water wanted it to be put in in March. That was resisted by the plant operator but it is now in place. The latest boil water notice that is in place at the moment, which we hope will be lifted very soon, is for a separate reason related to filtration systems, which are getting investment at present under the funding we put in place. Those filters are being worked on, and the sooner they can be finished, the more the risk of further boil water notices recedes.

Investment is incredibly important. Just yesterday we turned the sod on €39 million going into new wastewater treatment services in Kildare. I was with the Deputy in Cork on Friday, when we were at the site of social houses being constructed at present. Before that I was at the new treatment plant on the River Lee, which has not been invested in in 50 years. These types of investment will protect people into the future. We have identified the Leixlip plant previously as being of particular concern. That is why those investments are under way.

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