James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for that information. It is little comfort to the people we represent. Part of the response to has to be financial assistance that needs to be provided to the families involved. If the State has an agency in place to supply home owners and people who live in these homes affected, with a safe and secure water supply for every type of domestic use, there should be some reflection on that so that in an area such as east Cork, where so many people have been affected over such a long time, they need to be given some kind of compensation to allow them to get on with their lives without having to bear that additional cost. I outlined how where people are buying vast amounts of bottled water, that can impact on their personal finances. Not everybody has the luxury being able to set aside €40 or €50 per week, or in some cases a great deal more, to buy in that water supply. That is not good enough. These householders are paying through the nose for something that is not really any fault of their own. It is the fault of the State in the sense that it cannot provide them with the water supply they need.

Within the Civil Service such matters would be viewed as, "You raise me a solution and I will raise ten problems", but that needs to be taken on board. It is only right and proper that these householders are given that reflection from the Department so that when they go to Uisce Éireann saying too many people are affected over too long a period, is it not time that we probably do something with these families? That would be my view and my request.

I ask the Minister of State to reflect on that, to bring that back to the Department and consider putting in place a system or a scheme that can financially support those individuals affected by it. I reiterate that for eight years a vast number of householders have been affected. East Cork has gone through a difficult time with Storm Babet and the impact it had on the local area. This issue has been dragging on for an unholy amount of time. It is not fair. Irish Water has given priority to projects in other parts of the country for a multitude of reasons. However, this has been going on for an unacceptable amount of time. I ask that the compensation angle be looked at.

See this speech in context