Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the water supply and what we intend to do about it. Outside, it is a soft morning in Dublin but, statistically, we have had 33% less rainfall in the first six months of this year. People might think that this is good for tourism and so forth, but unfortunately the major knock-on effect is that communities in my part of the country and elsewhere are facing a water shortage. It is amazing. In Ireland, there is rain every day of the week but when it stops raining we do not have enough water to keep our population going. It shows the poor state of our water infrastructure. I am familiar with areas where the people are looking for tankers because water is not available. Magnesium levels are rising through the rocks and the water that is emerging is undrinkable. We must have a serious debate on how we will deal with this issue into the future. There are forecasts that there will be huge increases in the population between now and 2040 but we cannot serve the current population's water needs after a minor drought. How to deal with it will be a major issue for the State. When we return in the autumn, we must have a realistic debate on how to fund and ensure water services for our people.

A new regime is required now to ensure people do not waste water over the next few weeks. There should be a ban on watering gardens, washing cars and so forth for the next few weeks, so we will have enough water for basic services. We will not have enough water for those services in two or three weeks if this drought continues. The rain supply is down 33% at present and we do not expect much change to occur.