Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I only have three minutes, which does not really leave room for everything I wish to say. It has been quite an interesting debate up to this point. I will use this opportunity to raise two local issues. They have been going on for quite some time and are very serious. It is unfortunate that it has to come to the point where they have to be raised in the Dáil. The people of Inishbofin were advised of a boil water notice on 25 August due to the level of manganese in the water. This was then changed to a do not drink notice on 3 September. Even more concerning is that it has now been revealed that as early as 11 August, the level of manganese in the water was not safe. Locals are worried because they feel there might have been an issue for some time with the water. Some have said that for some months there was a strange taste but now the water is completely brown. This water was being used by locals, even for washing bottles for a small baby, at a time when they had not been told that it was not safe to use if it had not been boiled.

All of that is horrendous but the lack of communication from Irish Water is simply not good enough. Islanders have told me that they have found it impossible to get any information from the company. We know that our island communities are very-well organised to get this kind of information. I contacted Irish Water about this and was sent a press release that I could easily have gotten if I googled it. When it comes to the point of us trying to get some information, it simply is not good enough when we are talking about peoples' health.

The boil water notice came in on 25 August but equipment and replacement filtration only arrived on the island almost three weeks later on 13 September. Islanders want to know why it took so long. They also need clarity from Irish Water on the exact level of manganese, when it started and an explanation of how much exposure islanders had to it before this was raised with them. Did this happen all of a sudden? Had it been building for some time? What exactly had been the problem with this system? All of these questions are still being asked by the islands. I understand that the Minister of State will not have all the answers to this issue now but I would be delighted if he could furnish me with a response at a later date.

I will raise another Irish Water issue on Inisheer, which has been ongoing since last summer. There are nightly restrictions of water over summer months from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. I was on Inisheer at the weekend. What happens is that a cargo boat has to bring 10,000 l of water twice per day to the island. Usually there are 300 people living on the island. However, there are thousands there during the summer. That is not good enough. That boat should not be going. We need to make sure that there is a functioning reservoir for the island. We should think of all the rain that falls that could be collected. That is the kind of vision we need. Those are two urgent actions.

See this speech in context