Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. Nine years after Irish Water was incorporated, this Bill is finding its way to the Dáil. It will provide the first bit of accountability in respect of Irish Water. It will become accountable to the Committee on Public Accounts and audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

In terms of background to this discussion, the report on urban wastewater treatment was published by the EPA on 20 October. It tells us that 7.5 million litres of sewage is flowing into Ireland's seas and rivers every day, enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools. I am not here to give out about Irish Water. It was made into a boxing bag by various Governments. We should have resourced local authorities and built on their knowledge and skill. The Government did the opposite. It was only because of the outrage on the ground that Irish Water has remained in the manner in which it is now, namely a semi public-private company. We need a referendum quickly.

To get back to the context of the discussion, the EPA has told us 32 towns and villages are still discharging raw sewage into the environment every day, including Carraroe to which I will come back if I have time. Irish Water is finally reviewing its policy. Just 51% of the waste from Ireland's large urban areas was treated to the EU standard. Another EPA report published on 13 October on water quality in Ireland found it is not as good as it should be, to put up mildly. Only about half of our surface waters are meeting the standard and we have gone backwards, related to the upswing in agricultural intensification.

An EU deadline was set in 2005. We were in court in 2019 and eight large urban areas were in trouble. Dr. Tom Ryan of the EPA said at the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on 4 October that we are potentially looking at cases being taken against us. It is a major challenge.

I will fault Irish Water on one count. It is not transferable. We had no water in Cois Fharraige until very recently. There is still no drinking water on Inishbofin. There was no drinking water on Inisheer. Deputies and local councillors were left like amadáns emailing Irish Water trying to find out what caused the problem, when it happened and when it would be rectified. There was a high level of manganese in the water. Notices told people not to boil their water. A few weeks later they were told not to drink the water. We are still dealing with that tobacco. Talk about muddying the waters. I could go on, but I will stop for my colleague.

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