Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

It is 2023 and we live in a wealthy country. For 7,000 people in Limerick, however, it might as well be the Dark Ages because they have no clean drinking water in their homes. For over five months, they have been told that the water coming from their taps is not safe to drink because of the pollution of our rivers and the underfunding of our treatment plants. This is particularly egregious for the people of Kildimo and Pallaskenry, who for years got their water from the much cleaner Bleach Lough but who were forced, against their will, to switch to the more polluted River Deel.

I have supported them over the years in their campaign and warned that this switch would result in unsafe drinking water. Successive Governments refused to listen and now people are forced to spend hundreds of euro buying bottled water, causing untold levels of plastic waste. Will the Government intervene to ensure that these people are provided with safe drinking water and that the cost of bottled water is shouldered by Uisce Éireann? Will it ask for a review of the water supply so communities who wish to can go back to the Bleach Lough supply?

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