John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for sharing their time. I welcome that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is in the position he is in because this is an issue he knows well. It is one of those very rare issues upon which I find myself in agreement with most of the Green Party policy.

In my part of the world, which the Minister of State knows well, there is the issue of intensive agriculture and its role in upgrading water quality, particularly that in our watercourses, streams and rivers. An issue I have tried to raise with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and which I hope the Minister of State will be able to flag given his position, is the need to ensure there is some sort of promotion or extra emphasis given to areas of intensive agriculture where there are open watercourses and promoting, developing and expanding grant relief measures for intensive farmers to ensure they have the necessary storage capacity. Huge leaps and bounds have been made during my time in the Oireachtas in the management of farms across the country. The period has seen many environmental improvements and it has often been led by work from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on ensuring grant aid is available. Farmers have shown time and again that if supports are there they will act. It is the same when it comes to the issue of water quality. There should be some extra weighting or promotion given to people who are in especially vulnerable areas and are engaged in intensive agriculture. That sector will follow because it tends to be the most progressive. The farmers who are in a position to ensure those works are carried out are generally farming full-time.

Deputies have spoken about deficiencies in their own constituencies and the Minister of State will be aware of those in Kilkenny. We have boil water notices quite regularly, alas, in places like Clogh, Moneenroe and Castlecomer in north Kilkenny. In recent days we have even had notices for the Bennettsbridge and Ballyragget supplies. The notices have been lifted but thousands of houses being left without a supply of water for a period of days is not a situation any organisation, including Irish Water, can stand over. I fully agree with Deputy Matthews on Irish Water drawing up and confirming lists of works that need to be done on both water and wastewater treatment. It does not need to be an exact list with the full details and costs but it must have a rough estimate of costings for works that are outstanding and need to be done. Those are figure Irish Water should already have rough estimates of within the organisation. It would be a very welcome development. On wastewater treatment specifically, Deputies, including the Acting Chair, have outlined the villages and towns across the country that continue to pump raw sewage or almost completely untreated sewage into public waterways or the sea. That position is untenable into the future and Irish Water should include that in any list of necessary measures it draws up.

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