Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not agree more. It appears that the issues which give rise to the necessity for boil water notices can be easily understood and communicated. They can sometimes be persistent. I have an issue in my area whereby after very heavy rainfall, people are aware that there will some difficulties for a very particular reason and that there is a longer term strategy to remedy the problem. While it is inconvenient, that at least provides some understanding as to the background issues.

Given the persistence of these issues, I would have thought that Irish Water would have communicated with the Deputy in the first instance and that it should not be necessary for him to be here at 9.55 p.m. on a Tuesday evening to get answers on behalf of his constituents. Uisce Éireann should have been more proactive in communicating very clearly to the Deputy precisely what it is doing, why it is doing it, what the science behind it is, what the medium-term plan is and what the longer term plan is. Uisce Éireann has a responsibility to engage with Deputies on a case-by-case basis, especially where there are persistent difficulties. This is by no means the first Topical Issue or Commencement matter relating to Uisce Éireann that I have dealt with. It seems perfectly obvious that it could dramatically improve its communications with the Deputy, as a public representative, and with Members of this House in general before they have to come here and ask questions. Deputies are asking questions on behalf of their constituents, and there should be a much better system in place. There may be perfectly reasonable answers that could be given and understood in order that people could monitor what is happening over time. The latter is very difficult, however, if Uisce Éireann does not provide the relevant information to the Deputy, as a local representative.

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