Dáil debates
Tuesday, 4 July 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Water Quality
11:00 pm
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The second matter is from Deputy Buckley. The Deputy wishes to discuss the continued and long-running boil water notice in east Cork and the need to resolve the issue permanently.
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. The Ceann Comhairle introduced it well. Indiana Jones, I would say, has not around as long as this issue. This has been going on for approximately seven years. This boil water notice in the Whitegate area affects more than 10,000 people in Midleton, Ballinacurra, Cloyne, Ballintotis, Rathcoursey, Saleen, Upper Aghada, Whitegate, Ballycotton, Churchtown, Trabolgan and all the surrounding areas.
The most recent occasion on which I raised this matter was 31 January last. However, it dates back to St. Valentine's Day 2016 and remains ongoing. Local Sinn Féin county councillor Danielle Twomey is trying to get answers to questions from Irish Water but we are getting bog-standard replies. I suspect that the Minister of State's script will contain phrases such as "turbidity", "not tenable", "a new plant" and, probably, "a date for completion". People are extremely frustrated. The area between the towns and villages I mentioned is very rural in nature. Many elderly people live there. Public transport services are poor, which makes it very difficult for these people to get to the shops. That is a problem because they have to buy bottled water constantly.
I will not mention anybody with medical problems, but we also have people who are running businesses there. We have a couple of hotels in Garryvoe and Ballycotton. We have shops. We have businesses, including restaurants, and those who own them are all frustrated.
I do not like coming in here over and over again to raise this matter. All that has changed since I came in here and started raising it in 2016 is that Irish Water has become Uisce Éireann. That is the only difference.
In January 2013, I mentioned, particularly as this really frustrates the residents and others in the area, the fact that we have Whitegate oil refinery and the gas station. We also have the old power plant. There is an alternative water source. I mentioned that again in January but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
There was an incident, maybe two weeks ago here in Dublin, where there was a burst water main. It was on the national news. They had tankers out in a couple of hours, and yet for the past seven years these people in east Cork have not got as much as a bottle of water from Irish Water in compensation. They have spent thousands of euro in the past seven years.
I genuinely think what is happening is not good enough for the people of east Cork. We are being treated as second-class citizens. We are being ignored. The standard of treatment plants that are going in there - I know it because I worked in sewerage and water for years - is not even up to the standard of the one that is top be built in White Bay. It is called "White Bay" for a reason, namely, the beach there. It will not be popular because a percolation system to break down the sewage and smut is going to be put in place there. However, that is a matter for another day.
I am raising this matter because clarity is needed. There should be a meeting with Uisce Éireann at which the concerns of the residents living in the area and the heartache they are going through can be outlined. They understand that progress takes time, but they do not want to be ignored. I was frustrated to hear from our councillor, who is dealing with the people in the area, about the lack of information. Some of these people find out that the boil notice is on or off, as Uisce Éireann has it up on its website. As stated, this is a rural area. People do not have Internet in some places. Some people do not use computers. They find out what is happening when they see a newspaper advertisement maybe four days after the boil notice has been issued. These people have been consuming the water. They do not know if they will get sick or whatever.
I am here tonight to plead with the Minister of State and the Department to try to get a meeting at which myself and others - I do not care who is present - can discuss this matter with Uisce Éireann, attempt to have it resolved and obtain clarity for the residents in that area.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Buckley for raising the issue of providing safe drinking water in east Cork. I ask him to forgive the fact that it is me taking it rather than a line Minister. If the latter were the case, the Deputy might receive a more direct response.
I appreciate the Deputy’s concerns for the communities to which he referred. As he is more than well aware, this is a very serious issue. Otherwise, he would not be raising it repeatedly in the House.
The operation of Whitegate regional public water supply is a matter for Uisce Éireann, which, since 1 January 2014, has had statutory responsibility for it. In turn, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, as the environmental regulator, is responsible for setting quality standards and enforcing compliance with EU directives and national regulations for the provision of drinking water.
The Department has made inquiries with Uisce Éireann about this matter. I am informed that the boil water notice currently in place for the Whitegate public water supply was issued following consultation between Uisce Éireann, Cork County Council and the HSE. Uisce Éireann is pursuing a permanent solution to address the frequent boil water notices that the people of east Cork have had to put up with in recent years. That involves a major upgrade of the water treatment plant. A contractor has been appointed to undertake the design and construction of the plant. Land has been acquired and a planning application was submitted in January. Planning permission was approved by Cork County Council in May. However, following the statutory process, appeals have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála which, of course, will delay progress. The proposed works will include a new coagulation, flocculation and clarification system, a new filtration system and a new disinfection system.
Significant upgrades will also be made to other aspects of the Kilva water treatment plant site. The EPA will ensure that the new plant meets all applicable standards before this supply is removed from its remedial action list. The Department’s priority is to ensure people’s health is protected and that adequate water is available for all consumers, citizens and residents. We want to see the notice lifted without undue delay, but obviously only when the HSE and the EPA have confirmed the water supply is safe.
As part of budget 2023, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, secured funding of more than €1.65 billion to support water services. That includes €1.56 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Uisce Éireann. The overall investment will deliver significant improvements in public water and wastewater services, as the Deputy is aware, improve water supplies right across Ireland, including rural Ireland, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine areas, making a significant contribution to addressing Ireland’s needs.
Very little of that is any comfort if you happen to be living with a boil water notice tonight. I hope that project can be completed as soon as possible.
11:10 pm
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. Her statement is pretty similar to that in Cork Beo of 23 January; it just included fancy new words such as "coagulation, flocculation ... clarification [and] filtration system". When I previously had a response on this the filtration system and UV system were referenced. The previous excuse was that Irish Water was ordering a part. I remember saying that Irish Water, six years down the road, was ordering a part and if it went to wish.com or Early Express it would probably get the part faster. That is one point I wanted to make.
However, the biggest frustration I have when I represent the people of east Cork, especially in the Whitegate area and all the other areas I mentioned, is the lack of communication and information, in addition to the lack of empathy for people who are suffering. I do not like pitting people against each other but a major incident in Dublin can be sorted in a day, and emergency water supply can be sorted within two hours, yet we are seven years down the road on this issue and somebody has not even got a bottle of water from Irish Water, not to mind an apology. I have met people, and we have seen this in respect of the RTÉ scandal, who will not pay their television licence anymore. I suspect many of these businesses are now very frustrated with water rates because they are paying for something they are not getting.
I appeal to the Minister of State. I understand she is delivering the Minister's response. Her answer referenced the website and the 24-hour customer line. People do not actually get that information. When we knock on doors, we give people information leaflets. That is the old-style way. It is the way Uisce Éireann will have to go back to because parts of the area are very rural. I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue and the Ceann Comhairle for selecting it. As I said, however, it gives little solace to the people of east Cork. I hope not but, unfortunately, we will revisit this matter.
Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am sure the Deputy will keep plugging away at it.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I did not intend to read out the email address or phone number because I suspected people were already well aware of them, they would be of little assistance in circumstances where a seven-year boil notice was in effect, and that it probably was not the most efficient way of communicating. If it is an on-off thing, I suggest that an app on mobile phones that everybody is plugged into is a much more effective way of providing information, in a proactive way, to actually assist people who need to know whether a boil notice is in effect.
Not everything in Dublin is perfect. I come from Dún Laoghaire where we have a very Victorian water system that has many complications, but we do not suffer from the same ongoing issue as the people of east Cork suffer in this regard. I will not set out Uisce Éireann's primary function to provide clean, safe drinking water to customers to a Deputy who is representing constituents who have not experienced that for the past period. It is a matter of urgency that this issue be resolved to make sure that people have clean water.