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

I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue and the Minister of State for being here this evening. I have been raising this matter consistently since 2016. I raised it in a Topical Issue debate here on 30 May 2023. I also raised it with the Tánaiste on 18 April last. Since 2016, on and off, we have had a boil water notice affecting up to 10,000 people in my constituency. The last boil water notice was issued on 29 October 2022 and remains in place. This means that families and people living in the area are advised to boil water or buy water. I did a rough calculation today which I am sure the Minister of State will be interested in. The average cost of a 5 l bottle of water is €1.45. Men are advised to consume 3 l daily, which is a yearly cost of €317, and women are advised to consume 2 l daily, which is €211 a year. If there are two children under 14 in the family, that costs another €110 a year. That comes to almost €900 for a family of four if they purchase the water. To boil it, it adds up to €310 for the same number of people. That is a substantial amount of money to be forking out every week and every year. Apart from that there is the inconvenience of having to go to the shop and bring it home in the car.

This is happening through no fault of the people themselves. They signed up with Uisce Éireann to get a supply of water. The supply is not up to standard and it is costing extra money. My ask of the Minister of State and the Government is to consider making some gesture of compensation to these families. Maybe €100 per family will go some way to recognise that there is a problem and ease the burden they have at the moment. That would be reasonable and fair. In fact, I would prefer it to be even more than that.

When I raised this issue previously, the Minister of State at the time said he would bring it to the attention of the Minister and Uisce Éireann. The Tánaiste said the same. I have heard nothing since. That is why I am raising it again this evening. I want to ascertain whether the Government has looked at this. Is there any update on this proposal? Is it going to be a flat "no"? Uisce Éireann is responsible for supplying the water and so forth but this goes beyond Uisce Éireann. In fairness. Uisce Éireann has submitted planning permission to rectify the situation but I am told it will be another 22 months before the new plant will be commissioned. That is almost another two years. It got planning permission from Cork County Council, but that decision was appealed. An Bord Pleanála upheld the permission that was granted on 11 February this year but it will take about 22 months. It will actually treat 6 million l of water per day. That is the extent of it. This is a serious matter for my constituents. They are put out about it, annoyed about it, and there is an extra cost involved through no fault of their own. Uisce Éireann has been doing its best to rectify the situation. It invested over €1 million a couple of years ago but that did not do the trick. Now it has to put in a state-of-the-art ultra-modern facility to take the silt out of the water to enable the ultraviolet light to do its work and kill the bacteria and viruses that are in the water.

I am interested to hear what the Minister of State has to say. Given that I have raised this matter more than once over the years, I expect a substantive reply to my request for some compensation for the people in my area. More than 10,000 people have been impacted by this for quite a number years, on and off, since 2016. Since October 2022, it has been continuous with no sign of it being lifted.

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