Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

The EU drinking water regulations. I raise it in the context of the ongoing intolerable situation where 500 households in Ballycroy and Inishbiggle, in County Mayo are left without water for days on end. The way to solve this is to allow some flexibility in the multi-annual water programme to enable moneys that have been returned to the Department, or are to be returned to the Department, from one scheme can be reallocated to another scheme that desperately needs it. There is a gravity-fed group scheme in Ballycroy and it is run by volunteers. What has happened is some of the volunteers have passed away so they are trying to reconfigure the volunteers in the parish to be able to apply for the necessary funding. There is a way to solve this. Mayo County Council applied for emergency funding earlier this year but was unsuccessful so we need emergency funding and some flexibility around the framework.

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