Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister. Earlier today, Deputy Michael D. Higgins and I tabled motions under Standing Order 31 requesting the Adjournment of the Dáil to discuss this extremely important issue relating to the well-being and health of people in Galway. It would have been far more satisfactory if we had engaged in a debate under Standing Order 31 with the Minister and his colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, rather than dealing with the matter via this set-piece debate on the Adjournment. We had no other option but to raise the matter on the Adjournment when our motions under Standing Order 31 were refused. I have every confidence in the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government but he will read from a prepared script that will be relevant to the subject but will not provide answers in respect of some of the questions Deputy Michael D. Higgins and I intend to pose.

The Minister is aware that the waters of the Corrib are seriously polluted and, as a result, 90,000 people in Galway city, Oughterard, Killannin, Moycullen, Oranmore, Maree, Derrydonnell, Athenry, Corrandulla, Annaghdown, Headford, Tuam and elsewhere have been affected. The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs gave an interview in respect of this matter earlier this evening on national radio and he appeared to indicate that €21 million has been available since 2002 for water treatment works in Galway city and county. He more or less laid the blame at the door of local authorities for not taking up the offer of this money. Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, indicate why that €21 million was not spent in Galway, where the water supplies of city and half the county are sourced from the 60,000 acre Lough Corrib, which has been seriously polluted with the cryptosporidium virus?

It is no wonder that the Corrib is polluted, particularly as a result of the Government's failure to provide sewage treatment plants and sewerage schemes in towns and villages which surround it such as Headford, Claregalway, Oughterard, Cornamona and Clonbur. The Government neglected its duty by not providing the necessary infrastructure to which I refer. We have been warning about the danger of pollution in the Corrib for many years.

There appears to be an attitude that this problem in Galway should be hushed up. It is a serious problem and well over 100 people were identified as having contracted the virus and several were hospitalised. However, several hundred more people, whose immune systems were better able to combat the infection, were also affected. The virus is extremely dangerous for the elderly, the young and people who are receiving chemotherapy. People who live in the affected area cannot touch the water, drink it, use ice cubes made from it or brush their teeth. The Government's attitude appears to be that the matter should be played down.

Deputy Paul McGrath tabled a parliamentary question earlier today in which he asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of deaths that have occurred over the past ten years from the presence of cryptosporidium in public water supplies, and the groups vulnerable to serious injury or death from this organism. The Minister replied to the question but did not provide any information about the number of deaths. From my research, I am aware that a number of deaths have resulted from people being infected with this virus in recent years.

Why is it not possible to face up to the fact that we are faced with a serious crisis? Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government outline the steps being taking in Galway to put in place the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the filtration and treatment of drinking water of the population of Galway city and the surrounding area? This problem will not go away by itself, particularly since it has been established that the Corrib is polluted. What steps is the Department taking to ensure the problem in the affected area, in which I live, will be remedied as soon as possible in order that proper water supplies will be restored to the people who reside there?

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the two Deputies who raised this matter. Deputy McCormack asked a specific question and I will cut to the details of that because he is entitled to specifics.

The presence of cryptosporidium was confirmed on 20 March, as Deputy McCormack knows. It was found to be involved at the old Terryland plant, which is part of the Galway city water supply. That was confirmed by further research the following day. I understand that there is no cryptosporidium to be found in the Galway council's second and more modern plant at Terryland.

Deputy McCormack asked me specifically to clarify the position on funding. I am pleased to confirm that the funding has been in place for a number of years but that the Galway council still has to prepare the brief to draw down that funding.

Inadequate filtration capacity at the old treatment plant in Terryland is at the centre of the problem in Galway city. Funding has been in place for some considerable time, under my Department's water services investment programme. As Deputy McCormack acknowledged, the funding is in the sum of €21.5 million. That money is intended to upgrade the plant and will minimise future risk of cryptosporidium entering the supply. I understand that Galway City Council will submit a brief for the appointment of consultants to prepare a preliminary report for this scheme to my Department as soon as possible.

As Deputy McCormack stated, the current difficulty for the people in Galway is an extremely serious matter. One of the basic and fundamental supplies which our local authorities are responsible for providing is clean water and it is astonishing that €21.5 million has been available to carry out services, with which, as Deputy McCormack suggests, it has been known in this area for some time that there were problems. I cannot understand why the brief has not been prepared and I have asked for an explanation of that. I have indicated to my Department that the brief, as soon as it is submitted, receive immediate attention and clearance in the Department.

I hope this latest incident will prompt the council in this case to show urgency in the matter and will certainly prompt local council members to show more focus and ambition on the issue. After all, that is what the people of Galway city and Galway council have elected their councillors to do. Deputy McCormack might like to inquire locally as to precisely why there has been such lethargy on the issue. My Department has spoken to the council and I am convinced that it is working hard on the issue.

I also understand from the contacts that have been made with the city council that it is putting temporary filtration facilities in place until the upgrade of the Terryland plant is complete and will produce a report on the available options later this week. As soon as that report comes to my Department it will receive attention. I wholeheartedly support the idea and my Department will assist the council in any way it can. Moreover, we will look positively on and support any proposals from the council for advance works on the €21.5 million permanent scheme.

Deputy McCormack mentioned other schemes in the area and I will advert to two of them. The Headford water supply scheme is a small stand-alone scheme using raw water from Lough Corrib with disinfection only. A €29 million extension to the Tuam regional water scheme to Headford, which is also funded by my Department, is under construction and commissioning is expected to take place in August next. In the meantime, I understand that Galway County Council has secured an alternative supply, which could be in place within a week or so, from the Caherlistrane-Kilcoona group water scheme, which itself has had a €4 million treatment plant installed last month with funding from my Department. It is simply untruthful to suggest that funding is not being provided by the Government.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I spoke about the past.

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The funding is in place now. As I stated, the council in Deputy McCormack's area has had €21.5 million available to it to do this work. I realise he is not a member of the council, but local inquiries should be made as to why that was not spent.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I was a member.

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am sure Deputy McCormack would have been much more active in this matter than certain current councillors, who preach about the green agenda but do not practise it when they are in power in their local council. I have clarified that funding of €21.5 million has been in place for some time for the Terryland upgrade and I look forward to the council coming forward with the proposals.

Returning to the first point, I agree with Deputy McCormack — I also spoke privately to Deputy Michael D. Higgins who is not in the Chamber but who I am sure has been inadvertently detained — that it is wrong that 90,000 people should be without water. It is doubly wrong when 90,000 in an important city and surrounding area are without water when the funding is in place. Deputy McCormack and other public representatives in the area and, more importantly, the people of Galway, are entitled to an explanation for that.

I give Deputy McCormack and this House an assurance that I will do everything in my power to ensure that as soon as the brief comes up, it will not stay for a moment longer than required in my Department. I have also stated that I made clear to my Department that I want it to be helpful and to assist Galway through this great difficulty, particularly given the time of year. As Deputy McCormack stated, it is not just an inconvenience but is a threat to public health and to life itself. That is not acceptable, particularly when local councils have funding available to them. Deputy McCormack can assure his constituents, as I have assured all the other public representatives in the area, that I will encourage the council to be ambitious and will encourage my Department to co-operate fully with Galway to bring this matter to an end.