Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the reply from the Minister of State. In reality, while we have these bodies and authorities that are responsible for certain areas, it has been my experience that when an issue emerges, such as an oil spill on a body of water, it is treated essentially like a hot potato. It is passed from one to the other and another until somebody finally takes responsibility, but at that point the damage has already been done. These are not isolated incidents that happen now and again. They are happening far too often and sometimes there are severe cases.

They have a huge impact, far beyond what they would have if there had been quicker responses. Unless comprehensive legislation to protect our waterways is brought forward quickly, the situation will continue to get worse.

Many of our rivers and lakes are already in a critical condition, their biodiversity is severely reduced and the numbers of fish and other wildlife has been depleted. The possible health and economic side effects are more reasons for us to take urgent action before it is too late. It is not good enough for any agency of the State to avoid responsibility. That is something we have seen far too often, namely, where the matter is kicked down the road in the hope that it will become somebody else's problem or that someone else will pick it up as an issue to be addressed. That is something that requires time but when it comes to issues such as this, we do not have the luxury of time. There needs to be a much more urgent and coherent approach to these events when they happen. What is needed is a radical new approach to how we treat our natural water sources. In order to achieve meaningful results, we need to provide the authorities with powers that they can actually enforce. We need sewerage and defence systems and regulations around pesticides and run off material, but we also need to crack down on the dumping of industrial waste, rubbish and any other waste material into our waters. We need to see these people prosecuted for their actions.

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