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

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I wish to speak about this issue because it is of huge importance to people across the east Cork region where the homes that are supplied with this affected water supply are being negatively impacted. Because of new policies that have been introduced, there is an additional burden on these householders, which is very unjustified, in the context of the introduction of the deposit return scheme for plastic bottles. Unfortunately, thousands of people in my area have been consistently affected by the quality of their water supply over a long number of years. Some people have been affected for seven or eight years and indeed even longer than that in some parts.

East Cork, as many people will know, is a low-lying landscape where there is a lot of limestone rock. Despite the high-quality water supply, when there are heavy deluges of rain, unfortunately, they contaminate the water supply due to the geology locally and other contributing factors. This is a very problematic issue for a huge number of residents. The epicentre of this is Whitegate and Aghada, but it spreads across to other parts such as Churchtown, Saleen, Shanagarry, Ballinacurra, Cloyne and all the rural hinterlands in those areas that are connected to that water supply.

Unfortunately, when it comes to what the State is doing to support those families, it is just not right. People have to go in and out of their local towns and villages to purchase water and now there is the additional cost of the deposit return scheme. It is not fair. The State needs to step in and Irish Water should be told by the Department of local government and the Ministers responsible that they must step in to do something in response to this inequity. It is very unfair on those affected. I am conscious a body of work is being done to address these issues but that is for the long term and it will take a number of years.

I am joined by Deputy Stanton, who also represents the area. Both of us can say that this issue is a huge headache for people locally. They have been suffering because of it for a very long time. I often feel the frustration of people locally who do not feel this issue is getting the attention it deserves. I wish to raise it this morning to show that it is a major concern for me politically and for the people I represent.

The Department needs to step in to give Irish Water a bit of a kick in the right direction because it is only fair that it acknowledges the impact this has for all the residents who have been affected and have been going through these boil water notices and the impact they have, for example, on washing children, getting ready for school and people trying to get their bits and pieces ready every morning. There is a whole heap of different areas as to how this has affected families and ordinary households.

In a video that has been brought to my attention, there are some stories in which there might be an additional requirement for water for medical grounds or other issues that are affecting elderly people. It seems a bit heartless that the water supply is not provided on a local level and people have to go to supermarkets to purchase this at extraordinary higher cost. If the additional household cost that this brings to homes on a weekly basis is totted up, it is not fair. In addition to that, there is the deposit return scheme and how that is impacting them. It is a pain in the posterior to many people across the country. I am not the greatest advocate for it; I will not lie. However, for those who are affected by the water supply issue in east Cork where there are these outages affecting homes, it needs to be looked at.

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