Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I strongly welcome the allocation of time today to discuss Uisce Éireann. This week, the community of Castlecomer in north Kilkenny received yet another notification of overnight water restrictions. This is a recurring issue that they have endured for years. This time the cause is critically low water levels. It is now April. We have not even reached the summer months and Castlecomer's water supply is already struggling to cope. What do we expect the community to do if we have warm or dry June and July? This is a sizeable community, yet Uisce Éireann's progress in securing new groundwater sources has moved at a snail's pace. While water exploration is under way, it will not conclude until summer. After that, we face further delays, land acquisitions, planning permission and the construction of vital infrastructures. How much time will be lost in the planning stages alone due to the Government's chronic underfunding of An Bord Pleanála and local council departments? The root cause of this lays squarely at the feet of the Government because of the failures to invest promptly in essential local infrastructures. How many more boil notices will the likes of Ballyragget have to endure? How many more years must this shambolic situation continue? Is it too much to expect a clear, sustainable water supply for villages across Carlow and Kilkenny in the Ireland of 2025? Beyond Castlecomer, towns across Carlow and Kilkenny are paralysed. Prime sites for new developments have been stalled by outdated water and storage systems. Where people have been able to build in Kilkenny and Carlow, the wait for the water connection by Uisce Éireann is often very much delayed. At a time when we are in urgent need of new builds, these delays are grinding building works to a halt and driving up costs for developments. Why is it that Uisce Éireann has not been able to increase its operational capacity to reduce these ridiculous waiting times? It is crystal clear to me that the public deserve a comprehensive review of Uisce Éireann's capital programme to see where it is prioritising its resources. Communities like Castlecomer, which lack even a basic reliable water supply, must be treated as an urgent priority. Communities across rural Ireland should not be left waiting for years for such a fundamental right.

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