Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to support this motion and I thank the Deputies from the Regional Group for bringing it forward. Some 50% of my constituency is rural and the lack of water and waste water infrastructure there is an important issue. We are in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State.

11 o’clock

Without investment by the Government in water and wastewater infrastructure how will houses be built in villages, towns and rural areas? The Government must invest. One-off housing is being blocked because of a lack of infrastructure.

In my constituency, in the middle of a densely residential area, there are four waste management facilities. Two of these have been licensed by Cork City Council and two by the Environmental Protection Agency. In January last year, the existence of ammonia, nitrogen and sulphate were recorded in the ground water in the Ashgrove facility, which is licensed by the EPA. This means that liquid ammonia was in the ground water. Some of the symptoms of ammonia poisoning are severe chest pains, vomiting and blindness and people are advised to go straight to the emergency department. What were the consequences of this for the Ashgrove waste management facility, which is surrounded by houses full of elderly people and young families and sports facilities? When ammonia was found in the ground water there were absolutely no consequences and nothing to answer for. The EPA has told me it cannot temporarily close facilities while an investigation takes place. It has only ever once shut a facility. Reports from Country Clean in 2018 showed it has never passed a fire inspection. As of 1 August 2018, maintenance of fire detection systems had not taken place since 2014. The EPA waited months before it notified the local authority. Today we are discussing water and wastewater infrastructure. Does the Minister think it is right that people in my constituency have serious issues with the water going into the ground? It is not right and there needs to be investment and action now. These waste facilities should be shut down.

See this speech in context