Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of communication between Irish Water and elected representatives. I will read a statement outlining the situation of a constituent who contacted me last week. I was contacted by a resident of Ballyhooly in east Cork. This resident has a serious autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that makes proper hygiene essential for her. However, due to the ongoing water supply issue in the area, she cannot even wash a cup and is forced to spend 45 minutes a day filling a bath with kettles of water so she can clean herself. Her condition is getting worse and she has a scheduled procedure set for Saturday. She is genuinely worried. Preparing for and recovering from this procedure requires access to a working toilet and the ability to clean up after herself, whereas she cannot even flush her toilet, wash her hands or even maintain basic hygiene. To make matters worse, she has no access to heating or hot water as the gas system does not function without sufficient water pressure.

She has personally contacted Uisce Éireann over 30 times about this but it has failed to take any action. It is a major crisis for this person. It is a health issue and a human rights issue. In my opinion, she has been blatantly ignored by Irish Water. Trying to contact these people is an unbelievable challenge.

The Minister might not be familiar with Ballyhooly but its national school’s water has constantly been cut off. When this happens, children in the school have no toilets and no way of washing their hands and the school has no way of putting out a fire, should one occur. Many of the houses in the village are home to young families. Children are often unable to be bathed by their parents because there is no water. Cooking cannot be done, clothes cannot be washed and showers cannot be taken. It is mad. Residents, families and businesses are affected by this ongoing water disruption.

I understand that Irish Water is legally required to maintain a minimal one bar of pressure, which equates to about 10 l per minute, but Ballyhooly is lucky to get half of that on a good day. I have been working with the residents and community groups there. I have been advised that the only solution to the water supply issue in Ballyhooly is to replace the water mains between the reservoir and the village because it is completely blocked due to corrosion. Last November, Cork County Council wrote to Uisce Éireann asking for the water mains pipe to be upgraded but Uisce Éireann replied that no capital work would be carried out. That is Ballyhooly goosed. It is unacceptable that Uisce Éireann would refuse to carry out work and it leaves Ballyhooly and all of its residents bitterly disappointed.

While we are at it, I want to mention that Whitegate is nine years into a boil water notice and it has over 10,000 people. They are being treated appallingly. It has got so bad that when people have a shower, it is like they have measles. I wanted to flag those issues with the Minister because communication is at a zero point.

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