Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the very serious plight of people in Knight’s Mountain, Knocknagashel and Lyracrumpane, which are beside one another. They have very little water. In fact, their wells are now obsolete because the water is undrinkable. When you pour the water out of them, it is like a cup of coffee. It has gone brown and they just cannot drink it anymore. There are up to 18 houses involved. The cost of the group extension is too prohibitive. In this instance, where the supply line is 4.8 km away, the cost of the overall scheme would be €720,000. This price was given two years ago, so it would be more expensive now. I understand there are up to 18 houses is involved. Each would have to contribute somewhere between €38,000 or €39,000 and €45,000, which is totally prohibitive.

There are two more affected places in Gneevgullia, namely from Knocknaseed to Banard and from Coom over to Banard, where five and seven affected houses, respectively, cannot get a connection because the cost of the group scheme is too prohibitive.

There are also high areas up in Castleisland where the pressure goes down in the summertime, making water scarce. These include Dooneen, Crag, Churchtown and Glounsharoon. These people suffer from very low water pressure every year when water gets scarce later in the summer. All they are asking for is a mile of an extension to where there is an adequate supply coming from the Brosna side. For years, they have been asking for this but they have been left behind.

Will the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, consider very seriously doing something for these people? Water is a basic human right. We can remember when houses were without water for four, five or six days a few weeks ago, which was terrible, but can you imagine being without water all day every day, week after week? The people at Knight’s Mountain tried to get the group scheme going in 2022 and the price they got at the time was €720,000. Even after the grant, they would have to pay up to €45,000 per house. That is not on at all. We must help the people. Kerry County Council is the local authority that administers the group water schemes. This has to be done to Irish Water’s standards, which require top-standard work. That is insisted upon. The cost is so prohibitive that the Government will have to do something, perhaps helping the people to lay the main themselves. These roads are very quiet and those concerned could work along the sides of the roads themselves. The Government should please do something to help these people to get going and ensure they have water.

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