Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

With the agreement of the House, I wish to share my time with Senator Brennan. The Shannon Estuary water supply scheme covers a wide area. A few years ago, the intentions of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the council was to broaden the scheme to include the Pallaskenry and Kildimo areas. Much work took place on that and I understand approximately €5 million has been spent in laying the upsized diameter pipes which were essential for the scheme. Those pipes have been laid as far as Kildimo because the council took the opportunity, when upgrading the N69 recently, to extend the scheme by a further 2.7 km to Kildimo.

It is worth bearing in mind that some of that area is being serviced from Bleach Lough. The many people who use the water from Bleach Lough pride themselves on that water. We must recognise, however, that there has been a dramatic expansion of housing in that area. There are two prominent group water schemes — Ballyshonick and Kilcornan — and many other householders want to get connection to the Shannon Estuary water supply scheme.

I spoke to a woman today who is in the Ballyshonick group water scheme and she told me she has not had a glass of water from her own tap in 23 years. The people in that scheme have poor quality water. They were recently warned by the health board not to use the water because the E.coli level was so high it was only suitable for flushing toilets. Those people have had to put up with a poor quality water supply over many years. I realise the people in Bleach Lough have that water supply but for how much longer can the people in the other group water schemes use water which would not be acceptable in Third World countries? The situation is serious.

The solution to this problem is to extend the water scheme. The council, in a reply to me on 3 February last, stated that conditional approval to proceed to tender was received from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and that it was appointing consultants to make the necessary amendments to contract documents.

I raise this matter today, despite pressing the council on it over a period of time, because it requires a sense of urgency from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Serious questions must be asked on this matter. When I was chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts I questioned the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. Callan, on how so much public money could be expended when large diameter pipes were left lying with stagnant water in them. Somebody described those pipes to me as a condominium for rats. They must be put into usage. They were provided with taxpayers' money. There must be an end to the poor quality water many people in these group water schemes and those seeking connections have to endure. I hope the Minister's response will be favourable and that this matter is being expedited.