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

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I agree that we all want the boil water notice to be issued as soon as possible. However, the most recent information I have is that it will take at least 22 months before the plant can be commissioned, so it is almost another two years to wait on top of the many months that have already had to be endured by the people in that area.

My main question now following on from the Minister of State's response is about whether a complaint has been made to the CRU, and if it can actually direct that a compensation scheme might be put in place in instances such as this. I understand that when water charges are being paid by businesses, that is a factor, but there are no water charges being paid by the domestic consumer here. However, people are incurring substantial costs because of the inadequate supply. It would be fair to make some gesture of compensation to them in order to make up for the fact that they have to either boil or purchase water for a protracted period. What I am suggesting is perhaps €100 or €200, like we did with the electricity compensation scheme, for households impacted by this particular extra cost. I am sure the Minister of State will appreciate that if people have to go to shops to buy water, there is extra plastic involved and they are burning extra fuel to go to the shops to get it. People are impacted by, we will say, certain diseases or are vulnerable, such as babies with milk formula and so forth. People have no choice but to actually go to the shops and buy water or else boil the water. That all leads to extra costs and extra inconvenience. People are put out by it. It has gone on for quite a while and will go on for a while longer. I ask the Minister of State to go back to his Department and maybe talk to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and come back to me with a response, hopefully saying that, yes, it will consider making some gesture of compensation to people in situations such as this.

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