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

I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about water, which is the most important item a community, population or country needs. All my life, I have worked with water services in Kerry County Council, as my father and my uncles did before me. My family are now involved in doing work for Irish Water in different places from time to time.

Water is very important. We know how angry people get about water charges. That has been dealt with and we have been told there is going to be no more water charges but the issue of the provision of water still remains. Whatever about charging for water, when people do not have water it is a serious issue. As I have mentioned already in the Chamber since the new Government was formed, this affects people in places such as Knight's Mountain in Lyracrumpane and Knocknagashel. Castleisland, which is a big town with many visiting tourists and business going on, can be very low on water at times when the pressure goes down. In Gneeveguilla and Scartaglin they cannot get group water schemes going. In any part of the county now, it is nearly impossible to get a group water scheme going because of the exorbitant cost residents are asked to pay. This is not on. People do not have money but they do need water and I feel we must do more to help those people. I am asking the Minister to ensure we help them. We we need much more water now that our population is growing in every direction. In every county and every town, we need more water.

Similarly, our infrastructure for wastewater treatment plants is totally obsolete and not there at all in many places. There are 38 settlements in Kerry without proper wastewater treatment plants. Some of them have none. Places like Caragh and Scartaglin do not have any wastewater treatment plant. There are several other places, such as Moyvane where you cannot build a house. This costs awful big money to bring these things up to scratch. Irish Water does not have any way or means of raising money and the Government has to realise it will need to give it the funds to ensure this is done. The Government talks about directing people into towns for housing but people out in the country are being prevented from building their own house and putting in their own little septic tank or whatever.

They are obliged to go into towns such as Killarney where the population is constantly increasing and there is more demand for wastewater treatment and for water infrastructure. In many places it has been 70 years. This man, Johnny, below me went down to Kerry to get a woman. We worked together day and night with his father-in-law and his brother, in order to keep the water going to such places as Sneem. I know what happens when people are out of water and the pressure they are under for all the things they need for daily life. Water is the basic commodity. The Government will have to do more. We will all have to put our shoulder to the wheel to ensure we have proper water infrastructure. It is going down; the pipes are obsolete in many places. It is the same with the sewage pipes and the whole system.

Not enough has been put in over the years and now it is coming to a head where a lot of money will have to be spent to bring these things up to scratch. It is going to cost money. Some funding model of the Government will have to ensure that money is provided, otherwise the country will grind to a halt because of the lack of water and wastewater treatment facilities. Many places do not have treatment plants. There are so many areas, such as 18 houses in one place in Knocknagoshel, that cannot get water. All their wells have gone rusty or whatever may be in them and the water is not fit to drink. Safe water is needed for children to ensure they grow healthily. Much infrastructure is needed. We must do something more as far as the group water schemes are concerned. They are not up to scratch and we are being asked to pay for too much. People would buy into a group water scheme. However, when we are asked to pay €45,000 or €65,000 to get the group water scheme going and get a grant, it does not match up and people cannot afford it. Thus we have people drawing water from supermarkets, which should not be the case in this day and age. I am asking the Minister of State to look at this because this is a serious issue. There is talk of bringing water from the Shannon to Dublin. Maybe they will do something about that. There are places a lot nearer without water. In other words, the Government will have to buck up to ensure that people have a proper water supply. It is a basic human right.

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