Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter.

I suppose the question is again in the heading. It is about the boil water notice that has been in place since November 2019. There was a little bit of a break of a week or two. On 25 December, Christmas Day, another boil water notice was issued. We are now into May. As far back as March, Irish Water put out a statement that "Irish Water and Cork County Council would like to remind customers supplied by Whitegate Regional Public Water Supply that the Boil Water Notice issued on 25 December 2021 remains in place". This is affecting more than 10,000 people and has been going on for a number of years.

I have submitted a number of questions to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications but those questions were unfortunately not allowed, which I found strange. I am a bit fearful tonight when the Minister of State is standing in for the Minister, who was not allowed to receive my questions a number of weeks ago. I have contacted Irish Water with him. In fairness, I will always give credit where it is due but the response was firm. These 9,500 or 10,000 people are all on the southern side of east Cork, a huge area covering Whitegate, Aghada, Churchtown, Ballycotton, Saleen, Shanagarry, Ballinacura and Cloyne. We are heading into the tourist season and this will affect businesses. It was discussed here a while ago with regard to housing issues as well. If Irish Water cannot support the people who are in situin this area of east Cork, how is it going to deal with additional demand for water supply and sewerage in the future because there are long-term plans for the whole of east Cork and that side in particular?

Even as I speak, there is another area, on the northern side of my constituency, which is now the subject of a second boil notice. I refer to Kilavullen. Approximately 800 people are affected. I worked in sewerage and water a long time ago and at that time, you would never hear of a boil water notice. You would hear of a broken water main. Some fella in the town who was lucky enough to have a phone - an ordinary phone, rather than a mobile phone - would ring somebody to say the water was out and would be told in response that it would be fixed within an hour. The council went down with a JCB, a concrete saw and a couple of G clamps and the job would be done. For some reason, since Irish Water took over, there has been boil water notice after boil water notice.

The excuse given to the people using the Whitegate system one year was that, for some reason, additional rain was causing the problems at the plant. Irish Water should be delighted when it rains. Another time, they were told the problem was silt entering the plant. There may be an issue with height; I am not too sure. When Irish Water found out that the issue was silt, it did not have the capability to remove it. It has now said, in one of the replies I got, that "Until a long-term solution has been implemented, there is a possibility that further Boil Water Notices may be imposed" and there is also mention of "our 25 Year strategy". The gang below in Whitegate who are on this water supply may have a heart attack tonight because I cannot get a definitive answer. That is my issue here. On behalf of these 10,000 or more people, I am trying to find out whether the Minister of State or his Department can get a definitive and honest answer from Irish Water so that we can tell the people of east Cork who are on the Whitegate regional supply that, although the water supply is not working and has not been working, we at least have a final date.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The devil may be in the detail or perhaps there is a hidden message in it. I welcome the fact that Irish Water has given a date of May or June for the completion of the works in respect of the silt or, as it calls it, the turbidity. However, many people will not be too happy and will be stocking up on water for the next couple of years if the completion of the permanent solution is that far away. I am surprised to have been given the answer now. I welcome it because at least it is a reply and a response, which is a lot more than I have got before. However, if these parts are to be ordered from abroad, I hope we are not getting them from the likes of Wish or Alibaba because Brexit and everything else seems to be used as an excuse when they cannot issue something.

In my brief time, I will also welcome the mention the reply makes of the capacity issues and that Irish Water is looking ahead because it is a very significant factor. Without losing the sense of what I am saying, there is an emergency in housing and so forth countrywide. I know there is not capacity. I recall that, under Cork County Council's 2012 county development plan, there were plans for a village in Monard, out beyond Blarney. The issue at the time was that Irish Water would not bring a water main in to the area. As a result of issues with capacity, the plan fell through.

The issue I want to highlight is that people are under severe pressure because of this and have been for nearly three years. It is causing issues for families with young children, people with complex needs and so on. I also acknowledge that there are capacity issues in Mitchelstown in my constituency. I welcome the progress in Mallow. The waterworks in Midleton have always been there. I live in the heart of Midleton and the waterworks are behind me, yet I get my water from the Glashaboy scheme at Glanmire, which says enough about capacity issues.

As I said, overall I welcome the Minister of State’s reply. I am certainly looking forward to working with him. I would rather work him than whichever Member I asked the last time, because at least I got a reply from the Minister of State.