Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I should not have to come to the House today to raise this issue. It has been going on for 15 years. Irish Water, and Mayo County Council before it, have not deal with this issue. There are 115 houses affected. It is a terrible thing when people pay their taxes, water charges, local property tax and everything they are asked to pay, yet they have to come home every evening to find an awful odour in their homes. Irish Water staff came out two weeks ago, looked at it and did some work, but a week later it was back again and these families have to suffer. It is not right in this day and age. There is a health and safety issue here. Reports have been sent in to Irish Water. Today, I am asking the Minister of State to set up a meeting with the CEO of Irish Water, me and officials from his Department to find out once and for all why honest and decent taxpayers have to put up with this. The houses I am referring to are in the town of Claremorris. A new sewerage system was put in many years ago and there is no doubt that there is a fault somewhere along the line. Something has gone wrong and somebody did not do their job along the way. The people who are suffering are the people of Claremorris and the owners of the 115 houses affected. It is not right. There are families with children who have been sick. When this happens in the evening time, particularly when there is fine weather though we do not have too much of that, these people cannot open their windows. The smell is in their houses. They are embarrassed to bring in friends and neighbours. It is a terrible thing. When they are eating their dinner in the evening, there is a terrible odour. It has been happening for the past 15 years. They have been pleading with the county council and with Irish Water and nothing has been done. Irish Water seems to be out of control at the moment. It does not seem to be doing what it is asked to do. It is not answerable to public representatives. At a recent meeting of Mayo County Council I heard that it has been trying to get representatives of Irish Water in for the past number of months to discuss other issues and they have not come in. They are not Gods. Taxpayers are paying their wages. The ordinary people out there are paying their taxes. The least these public servants can do is to come in and tell us what the problem is and how they are going to fix it. It has been going on for too long. It needs to be dealt with and I want it dealt with now. I ask the Minister of State to set up a meeting with Irish Water. I have written to the management and I do not even think they replied. It is not good enough. I want this issue resolved. We need to find out what the problem is and how to get it fixed. I want it done immediately.

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