Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Lead is a very toxic heavy metal and is detrimental to human health, in particular, the health of young children. The risk to health is especially grievous where quantities of lead contained in water supplies are consumed over a long period, even if the lead present is at very low concentrations.

It has been shown that consumption of lead can affect the brain development of children. Infants and babies in the womb are most at risk from lead contamination as children and infants absorb more lead than adults. Studies have shown that the toxic effects from the consumption of lead over time can lead to kidney damage and it has also been linked to cancer.

Over recent decades there has been a concerted effort to remove lead from both petrol and paint in recognition of both the harmful effects and the danger lead poses. Both the HSE and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, have indicated that no amount of lead in drinking water, no matter how small, can be considered to be completely safe. Every effort must be made, therefore, to eliminate it from drinking water and water supplies.

Water production across the State's treatment plants is lead free and the water mains network carrying the water is also lead free as a result of remedial works carried out over many years. A serious problem exists, however, for many houses built before 1980, where some have been exposed to lead contamination because internal pipes are made of lead. This is especially true for some older homes and buildings, particularly in Dublin, where some pipes in older houses date back to Victorian times.

It was the practice for many years to use lead pipes in service connections, which are the pipes running from the public mains to houses. Such lead pipes were routinely used in the plumbing of homes up until the mid-1970s. Many of the larger estates, such as those in my constituency of Dublin North-West, were built back in the 1950s and 1960s. The issue of lead piping has scarcely been addressed in these estates. Lead leaching from such connections into the drinking water of these houses clearly poses a health risk to the residents.

Irish Water has estimated that approximately 180,000 homes have been affected. That means possibly in the region of 500,000 people are living in these houses. Of this number, approximately 40,000 are thought to have shared backyard common service pipes, which Irish Water said it would take on the responsibility of replacing.

According to the EPA, the only realistic resolution to this health problem is to replace the lead piping in total and this should be done as soon as possible. Irish Water developed a national plan to address the issue and allocated €370 million to be spent over ten years in replacing lead pipes in the public water supply. These moneys did not include replacing pipes under the front gardens or in houses. Homeowners were deemed to be responsible for such works and some homeowners could avail of a means-tested grant to assist in the cost of replacing these pipes.

A short-term solution to the problem was to dose water supplies with orthophosphate. This chemical formed a protective film around the inside of the pipe and provided a barrier between the water and the lead. Clearly, this is nothing more than a short-term solution.

What is the status of the lead mitigation plan? As far as I can see from my constituency, there seems to be little or no progress in addressing this issue in my local area. I suggest that a public awareness campaign be put in place to highlight this issue and build greater public recognition of this problem.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ellis for raising this very important matter. Following the publication of the national strategy to reduce exposure to lead in drinking water in June 2015, a new grant scheme was introduced in February 2016 to assist low-income households with the replacement of lead pipes and related fittings in their homes. The intention of the lead remediation grant scheme was to incentivise households to carry out these works. The scheme is administered by the local authorities on behalf of the Department.

As the Deputy quite rightly said, however, it is fair to say the uptake on the scheme has been poor to date. To aid the Department with further consideration of the issue, a behavioural science and lead mitigation research programme is being undertaken now by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, in collaboration with Irish Water and other stakeholders. It is anticipated this study will contribute to informing future policy considerations in the broader context of addressing lead remediation issues. It has been delayed somewhat due to restrictions with regard to Covid-19.

It is vital and important to note, however, that lead in drinking water can come from both private-side pipes and from the public network, which is the responsibility of Irish Water. Significant progress is being made in addressing the public-side network, including networks in housing estates, both council or where taken in charge.

There are an estimated 180,000 lead service connections in Ireland and Irish Water has replaced more than 36,000 to date. Since January 2014, Irish Water has replaced approximately 9,282 backyard and shared lead services and approximately 26,976 public-side lead services.

Under current funding arrangements, Irish Water will be targeting the replacement of a further 54,000 public-side lead services between now and 2030. This would bring the total number of public-side lead services replaced to almost 90,000.

In addition, Irish Water has assisted local authorities with the running of a number of trials to determine the best and most effective options for the replacement of private-side services. Irish Water also offers a customer opt-in scheme, where the replacement of any public-side lead is prioritised at no cost to the customer when the homeowner replaces their private-side lead pipework.

The Deputy will note that a lead mitigation advisory group, chaired by the Department with representation from the Department of Health, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and Irish Water, meets regularly to consider and make arrangements on the broader national lead mitigation strategy. The most recent meeting of the group was held on 9 June 2021. I assure the Deputy that my Department, as advised by the lead mitigation advisory group, will continue to develop actions to reduce lead exposure in our water nationally.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. We do not really know about or have any analysis of the real effects of lead contamination in our water. We know it is a threat to our health and that tens of thousands of houses built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s used lead piping.

Many people living in these houses are on pensions and have very little money. They bought their own houses from the local authorities. A scheme is in place but there is not enough awareness and not enough take-up. I am glad, therefore, to hear the Minister of State say there will be a study to see how we can speed up that process.

He mentioned that so many houses would be done by 2030, but that is not enough. The scale of the problem is very big. It is a real worry that we do not have enough incentives and proper awareness. We should be going out more to people and letting them know a scheme is in place which they can avail of. In some cases, it is quite expensive for those who have earnings. That is another issue we must address. We need viable solutions. We really need to address the whole idea of funding and how to fund this even more and much faster into the future.

This is a very important environmental issue which is affecting our people right across the board. It is not only in Dublin; it is in Cork, Galway and in different places. It is an issue that is not going to go away. We do not honestly know the effects of this or what it has caused.

We do not know what its impact may have been, for example on people who were treated in their homes for cancer. There is a whole raft of issues we do not have the answers to.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I genuinely appreciate the concerns put forward by Deputy Ellis. I will raise the awareness aspect of the current scheme with the Department, as well as the results coming from the study. If it is an issue of awareness, we will try to see how we can target that and make people aware of it.

As I said, Irish Water is responsible for lead pipework in the public water distribution network. Water leaving Irish Water's treatment plants is lead free and, therefore, there is no lead in public water mains in Ireland. However, since connections within properties can contain traces of lead, the vast majority of lead pipes are contained within properties built up to, and including, the 1970s. Lead in drinking water is the responsibility of both water suppliers and property owners. The Water Services Act 2007 provides that owners of premises are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the internal water distribution system to ensure that drinking water provided meets the prescribed quality requirements at the taps. Therefore, lead plumbing in buildings, within property boundaries and on the private side of the network is primarily a matter for the property owner, including local councils where appropriate.

As I outlined earlier, the Department provides funding and assistance to low-income households through the lead remediation grant scheme, where the premises is owned or occupied by the applicant, to support replacement of lead pipes and related fittings. We will take the Deputy's comments in that regard on board. The Department already provides support to local authorities to upgrade housing stock and, more generally, meet modern building regulations. While Irish Water is making significant progress in regard to the public network, including in housing estates, as referenced by the Deputy, it is clear that the assistance my Department provides for low-income households is not being utilised to the full extent. This is something we are taking very seriously. We are examining it with the ESRI and the lead mitigation advisory group. I hope improvements can be made to the scheme in the coming period.