Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House and take this opportunity to recognise the efforts made by him on this issue. Both he and the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, have been available to Members and have met deputations and delegations from Ennis. The Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has visited Ennis on a number of occasions in dealing with this matter.

There is difficulty surrounding the current quality of water in Ennis. The Minister has put in place the services of his Department to ensure that paperwork on the delivery of a new treatment plant will be expedited and that no unnecessary delay takes place. The Minister is well aware of the problem, which appears to be recurring. It is not satisfactory that the solution will take two years to be delivered, and it is not fair to the people of Ennis and surrounding areas served by the town's water supply. It is estimated that the treatment plant will take two years, going through the process of tendering and construction, and this is unacceptable.

Ennis is now on its third boil notice for this year and a review which took place today found an element of contamination in the water. The boil notice has been extended, and another test will be carried out tomorrow. I hope the boil notice will be lifted at that stage. Boil notices have been in place for two of the past five months, which is again unacceptable. Such circumstances create much inconvenience for the people of Ennis and residents, particularly the elderly and parents of young children, are living in fear. The Minister may be aware that the first boil notice was brought about as a result of the health services having concerns over a number of children presenting with symptoms associated with water contamination. When the county council carried out testing their hypothesis was proven correct and remedial action was taken. These are the concerns that have been to the fore.

In addition, the reputation of Ennis as a tourism town, particularly in the light of its welcome success in the Tidy Towns competition, is now being eroded by the ongoing problem with the public water supply, which will have an impact on the future economic life of the town. This is not to underestimate the impact it has on the people who live there and use the water supply on a daily basis. Hotels are particularly concerned as their business is threatened. Concerns have also been expressed to me by a number of airlines, particularly those with transatlantic flights, regarding the overnight stay of their staff in Ennis hotels. The concern is that contaminated water could cause illness to pilots and air stewards while on their return journey. I do not need to explain the potentially disastrous consequences to the Minister. While this might sound over the top, it reflects the concerns of airlines who have seen the effects of contaminated water in other jurisdictions.

We need urgent action to implement a temporary solution to restore confidence in the Ennis water supply until the permanent treatment plant is installed in two years time. I recognise that nothing can be done to speed up the delivery process of the new plant. The Minister has been extremely helpful in identifying all the processes and in facilitating the movement of paperwork. However, we must look to a temporary solution. I understand the town and county engineers are currently reviewing an interim solution that could provide a stopgap measure until the treatment plant is operational. I ask the Minister and his Department to assist this process in a number of ways. First, by the provision of any expertise available within the Department to define or develop a solution that would help to solve the problem on an interim basis. Second, if such an interim solution can be obtained, I hope that the Department would enter discussions with the town and county manager, with a view to making a special grant available to fund it.

Currently, there is a real cost to the people of Ennis. When water is contaminated and a boil notice is in operation, many people do not trust the boiling process and buy water for drinking purposes. I ask the Minister to give some direction or assistance to the council to facilitate the deployment of tankers henceforth, particularly if the current boil notice continues beyond tomorrow or if a boil notice must be reinstated in the future. The cost of boiling water places a serious financial burden on many families, particularly those with young children and those we would consider to be among the most vulnerable in terms of social exclusion.

I thank the Minister for his actions to date. While he has been to the fore in terms of providing assistance, some additional measures can be taken. While I recognise the construction process will take some time, some guidance from the Department to the council in respect of providing tankers would be welcome, if that becomes an ongoing necessity. I am particularly interested in seeing the implementation of a more robust interim measure that will endure for two years. Given that engineers are working on the project, I ask the Minister to consider making available the requisite financial resources.