Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

Since last July, the Adrigole-Beara community has had up to 14 water outages, never mind what was happening before this, leaving residents young and old in farms, schools and créches without water for a day or two in some cases. This has led to the closure of the local school and créche. Families with small babies have moved out of the community when the water supply has broken, leaving people very stressed. One section of pipe needs immediate replacement from the source along the Healy Pass. The local community has set up the Adrigole Water Action Group, which has pleaded with me to get the powers that be to change the pipe, even with a temporary pipe. If repair crews have been kept out for 14 days since July this year, what cost is that to the State instead of replacing the section of piping immediately? This is also happening in Beach, Bantry, where the water supply has broken down 65 times over two years. The people of Adrigole are rightly frustrated. They know that if this was happening in Dublin, it would be replaced within hours. Why are they being treated like second-class citizens? Can the Minister tell me when this broken asbestos pipe will be replaced in Adrigole?

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