Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. The Ceann Comhairle introduced it well. Indiana Jones, I would say, has not around as long as this issue. This has been going on for approximately seven years. This boil water notice in the Whitegate area affects more than 10,000 people in Midleton, Ballinacurra, Cloyne, Ballintotis, Rathcoursey, Saleen, Upper Aghada, Whitegate, Ballycotton, Churchtown, Trabolgan and all the surrounding areas.

The most recent occasion on which I raised this matter was 31 January last. However, it dates back to St. Valentine's Day 2016 and remains ongoing. Local Sinn Féin county councillor Danielle Twomey is trying to get answers to questions from Irish Water but we are getting bog-standard replies. I suspect that the Minister of State's script will contain phrases such as "turbidity", "not tenable", "a new plant" and, probably, "a date for completion". People are extremely frustrated. The area between the towns and villages I mentioned is very rural in nature. Many elderly people live there. Public transport services are poor, which makes it very difficult for these people to get to the shops. That is a problem because they have to buy bottled water constantly.

I will not mention anybody with medical problems, but we also have people who are running businesses there. We have a couple of hotels in Garryvoe and Ballycotton. We have shops. We have businesses, including restaurants, and those who own them are all frustrated.

I do not like coming in here over and over again to raise this matter. All that has changed since I came in here and started raising it in 2016 is that Irish Water has become Uisce Éireann. That is the only difference.

In January 2013, I mentioned, particularly as this really frustrates the residents and others in the area, the fact that we have Whitegate oil refinery and the gas station. We also have the old power plant. There is an alternative water source. I mentioned that again in January but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

There was an incident, maybe two weeks ago here in Dublin, where there was a burst water main. It was on the national news. They had tankers out in a couple of hours, and yet for the past seven years these people in east Cork have not got as much as a bottle of water from Irish Water in compensation. They have spent thousands of euro in the past seven years.

I genuinely think what is happening is not good enough for the people of east Cork. We are being treated as second-class citizens. We are being ignored. The standard of treatment plants that are going in there - I know it because I worked in sewerage and water for years - is not even up to the standard of the one that is top be built in White Bay. It is called "White Bay" for a reason, namely, the beach there. It will not be popular because a percolation system to break down the sewage and smut is going to be put in place there. However, that is a matter for another day.

I am raising this matter because clarity is needed. There should be a meeting with Uisce Éireann at which the concerns of the residents living in the area and the heartache they are going through can be outlined. They understand that progress takes time, but they do not want to be ignored. I was frustrated to hear from our councillor, who is dealing with the people in the area, about the lack of information. Some of these people find out that the boil notice is on or off, as Uisce Éireann has it up on its website. As stated, this is a rural area. People do not have Internet in some places. Some people do not use computers. They find out what is happening when they see a newspaper advertisement maybe four days after the boil notice has been issued. These people have been consuming the water. They do not know if they will get sick or whatever.

I am here tonight to plead with the Minister of State and the Department to try to get a meeting at which myself and others - I do not care who is present - can discuss this matter with Uisce Éireann, attempt to have it resolved and obtain clarity for the residents in that area.

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