James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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County Clare and its capital town, Ennis, have been subjected to constant neglect by this Government. On a visit to Ennis in September 2005, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, sought to assure the people of Ennis of the Government's absolute commitment to improving the quality of water supply to the town. He stated that €13 million had been ringfenced to improve the quantity and quality of the water supply to Ennis, allowing existing and future water needs of the town and its environs to be met in a sustainable way. This was probably one of the most misleading and insulting statements that any Minister ever made while visiting the county.

The truth is that in April 1999, Ennis Town Council commissioned an independent consultant report on the waste water treatment system in Ennis. This report, which was completed and forwarded to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in 2002, recommended an upgrading project be undertaken at an estimated cost of €50 million. However, the report was shelved in the Minister's office until September 2006, when with an election approaching it was decided to dust it down and examine it. At that stage, the cost estimate was so out of date that the Minister told Ennis Town Council a new report with up to date costings would have to be produced.

The disdain with which this Government treats County Clare has hit new lows. A boil notice for water use in Ennis has been in place since 2005. The people of Ennis have bought bottled water since 2004, causing substantial increases in household bills. In November 2005, I called on the Clare county manager and the Ennis town clerk to issue rent and rates relief to the people of Ennis. Since I was first elected to Clare County Council, I have consistently looked for proper analysis and planning of infrastructure so that proper resourced development would take place.

This week I was informed by Ennis Town Council that because the water and sewerage systems in Ennis are already operating at maximum capacity, future planning applications for developments could be refused. The stark consequences of this action for employment and property prices are the result of the lack of investment in the county by this Government. When Galway was hit by water contamination, the Minister, Deputy Roche, and the Kerry joker, the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, took to the airwaves to promise immediate funding for upgrading works and tourism promotion drives. However, County Clare continues to be neglected.

I recently visited a mother of young children who had a wheelie bin full to the brim with empty water bottles. Our all-promising Government has done nothing to ease her increased weekly costs. The one word that describes what County Clare gets from this Government is "nothing". We will not accept that anymore. The Government paid a big price in County Clare in the last election but it will pay more this time because of its neglect of the county.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. On Wednesday, 19 October 2005, I raised the issue of contaminated water with the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who assured me that his Department would provide financial help on interim remedial measures. They have provided this help but the Minister of State also stated that he did not wish to see the people of Ennis living under the threat of "boil water" notices. He expected design stage of the new treatment plant to be completed by March 2006, construction and commissioning to take about 15 months and the plant to be operational by October 2007. The Government has got it wrong again. We have been told by Ennis Town Council officials that tenders for the new filtration plant have not yet been approved and that it will be the end of 2008 before a system is installed.

The people of Clare must live with a partial "boil water" notice covering children and the immuno-deficient. Ennis is the fastest growing town in Ireland, with a population of 20,000, estimated to increase to 40,000 by 2020. The people of Ennis have lost confidence in the Government, while their confidence in their water supply stands at an all-time low.

It is totally unacceptable in this day and age that people with limited means, particularly the parents of young children, those on social welfare benefits, and the elderly should pay for overpriced water in supermarkets or experience the cost and inconvenience of boiling tap-water. The council says the "boil water" notice applies to a small number of people and that it is constantly monitoring the situation with the HSE.

However, that is not the point, and it is not good enough. For a vulnerable group of people to have to fork out money for drinking water is grossly unfair, and for that reason Deputy Breen and I have tabled this motion. I am sorry the Minister is not here, and I know the Minister of State is taking the debate on his behalf. The Minister should provide adequate funding to Ennis Town Council so that bottled water might be subsidised for those vulnerable people.

I do not want to question the people of Galway, but it is quite obvious that the rapid response to the Galway crisis far outweighs Government action under its commitments to County Clare. I say the same thing regarding the Ennis main drainage preliminary report, which has lain idle in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government since 2002. Now the figures in it are out of date, and more consultants must be appointed at increased cost to the taxpayer. Above all else, we have a town with a damaged reputation for quality drinking water and a sewerage system so outdated it is ready to explode and create another serious crisis for the county town.

The Minister should be ashamed for not being here tonight, but having watched the "Prime Time" programme on the problem of water contamination throughout Ireland, I can see how he might hang his head.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this issue, and I am glad to have the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who was referred to by Deputy Pat Breen.

The Minister is aware that several "boil water" notices have been issued in Ennis in recent years. He accepts that having to boil water, necessary though it may be to protect public health, causes inconvenience, distress and anxiety.

The Ennis town water supply treatment scheme, which will provide a new water treatment plant for the town and supply the people of Ennis with a consistently high quality drinking water supply well into the foreseeable future, has been approved for construction in the Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007, at a cost of over €6.6 million.

The Department has been working closely with Clare County Council to progress that scheme. The Minister is glad to say that the council's tender report and recommendation for the scheme were received earlier this month and are being examined urgently by the Department. As soon as they have been approved, the council will be able to place the contract for the construction of the new plant.

The Department has also been providing special assistance to Clare County Council under the local government fund towards the operational cost of a temporary treatment plant until the new permanent infrastructure becomes operational. As a result of the installation of the temporary plant last year, the "boil water" notice was lifted for the generality of Ennis consumers with immediate effect on 15 December last. However, as a precautionary measure, the HSE has instructed that the notice should continue to apply for the present to persons who are immuno-compromised, infants and pre-school children.

It is a matter for Clare County Council, as the sanitary authority, to determine, in light of the likely duration of the limited precautionary "boil water" regime, whether further exceptional arrangements regarding water supply are appropriate for those cases. However, the council is hopeful of being able to lift the existing precautionary notice in the near future.

A separate Ennis town water supply augmentation scheme, which will provide Ennis with a supplementary water supply from Castlelake, has also been approved for construction under the Department's water services investment programme. The Department has already approved the county council's proposals to lay some of the pipes for that scheme, at an estimated cost of some €5.5 million, in conjunction with the Ennis bypass.

The Ennis Clarecastle sewerage scheme, which is sometimes referred to as the Ennis main drainage scheme, has also been approved for construction under the Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007. That scheme has an estimated cost of over €57 million, and funding is available for draw-down under the programme as it is advanced.

The Minister approved the council's preliminary report and the preparation of contract documents for the scheme last September, and I understand the council has advertised for consultants to prepare the contract documents.

I stress the Minister is anxious to see these Ennis schemes reach construction and that the Department will facilitate that in every possible way.