Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise; I have to return to a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. I will go to the Balmoral show because it is very important to have an exchange. I am looking forward to speaking to all of the rich farmers in the North. Us poor farmers in the west do not have a lot. All of the good land is in the North. I am looking forward to the Balmoral show. Agriculture is important to the entire island and we need to unite in terms of our responses.

I wish to pose a question to Senator Feighan. I accept that he is trying to be helpful. If the DUP was not supporting the Tory Government in Britain, would we have reached an agreement by now? I will not answer that question. It is something to think about. I wish to reiterate that Sinn Féin wants the institutions in the North up and running in order to deliver for the people. There is no question about that. We showed that earlier this year when we reached an agreement that could not be carried through on.

I have tabled three or four Commencement matters in the past week in respect of the Newport sewerage scheme - raw sewage is flowing into the sea at Newport - in order to try to get accountability or a status update from the Minister on what is being done to address the issue. I received correspondence to say that the Minister would not be answerable for that. I contacted another Minister and received the same correspondence. That worries me. I submitted another Commencement matter in respect of the Lough Mask regional water supply and the extension from Westport to Newport. It was ruled out of order because the Minister could not come before the House. Communities around Croagh Patrick do not know whether it will be closed for Reek Sunday because they do not have water. Nobody will give them answers as to why the extension to the Lough Mask water scheme did not go ahead and its current status in terms of the investment category.

I attended a meeting with several hundred people last week at which this issue was discussed. A local teacher talked about children not being able to wash their hands or flush toilets. Men and women involved in business talked about the opportunities that were lost, the jobs that were under threat etc. People in the community talked about having a right to water. I cannot get a Minister to come to the Seanad to answer a question on the issue. I ask the Leader to address this matter. If we have learned anything over the past few weeks it is that a lack of accountability where responsibilities are given to State agencies and removed from the responsibility of the Government is something we need to examine.