David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response and for her usual honesty and straightforwardness in dealing with this issue. I will give the Minister of State some idea of what is happening here. On 1 February 2021, a boil water notice was issued. On 12 March, it was lifted. On 28 October 2021, it was issued again. On 5 November, it was lifted and on Christmas Day 2021, a boil water notice was issued. On 3 June 2022, it was lifted and was again then issued on 29 October this year and is still in place.

Trying to keep track of all of that and whether or not it is in place is quite difficult for the public as they have other things to be doing. It is quite a challenge to inform people on how this is done. The Minister of State is quite right in that if people are away on holiday or if they move into the area, how are these people to know that a boil water notice is in place? If there are people who are vulnerable, who have health issues, or babies or small children, and if they drink this water, which the HSE tells us may be unsafe, then people’s health is at risk. The Minister of State’s final point there is that she wishes to see the notice lifted without undue delay, which we all want, but only when the HSE and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, confirm that the water supply is safe. If people do not know they should boil water and drink the water out of the tap that is not guaranteed to be safe for them, that is very serious.

I ask that the Minister of State convey back to the senior Minister, Deputy O’Brien, that we need to instruct Irish Water and the HSE to erect posters in the area when a boil water notice is in place and to take them down when it is lifted. If they leave them up, they will lose their effectiveness. Otherwise, people will not know. I cannot think of any other way of this happening, but perhaps the Minister of State can. People should also be compensated for the very significant cost they are incurring and the inconvenience of having to do this, which is also quite a worry. On top of that the Minister should ensure that Irish Water engages with public representatives on this. In the past, Irish Water used to have a clinic in this House, where it used to come in and we would meet the company officials face-to-face. Perhaps the senior Minister should put that back in place where we could meet the officials and talk to them. That might be something Irish Water might do. I cannot understand why it is going to take until the end of 2025 to get this done given that it is going on since 2016.

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