Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Táimid ar ais arís inniu ag caint mar gheall ar uisce. I was just thinking that a person would not put dirty petrol or diesel into his or her car yet we have a huge issue of water quality in this country. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, carried out a big survey and tested much of the waters in Ireland. Some of its finding are horrific. I will throw out a couple of figures because I like a few statistics to back up any issues I bring to the House. It tested all the rivers in Ireland between 2013 and 2019. Some 47% of the sites have unsatisfactory nitrate concentration levels and 44% of these have increased in the last six years. We are going the opposite way and getting worse. We have been highlighting water issues for a few years now and no U-turn is happening. We put the water into our bodies and our children drink it. If a woman is finished breastfeeding, she uses the water with powdered milk. This is a huge issue.

I have been contacted by constituents with E. coli poisoning. I know of three families who all happen to have daughters of six or seven years of age who have had kidney failure. They have been left with a lifelong illness. That is the E. coli raw sewage side of it; there is also the nitrates and phosphates aspect. Some 34% of sites have unsatisfactory phosphate concentration levels.

We just have to stop and say we have not even got the basic issue of water right in this country. I will keep bringing this issue up until I see something happening. In County Clare alone, raw sewage discharge is going straight into five places. I believe there are 47 all over Ireland; it is not unique to County Clare. We need to call the Minister into the House and ask what is going to happen.Irish Water says it will only work where there is existing infrastructure in terms of improving it. There are many places that need infrastructure where there is none in place. Some of our water infrastructure has not changed since the days when 20 people lived in a village where now 400 people could be living. I will keep raising the issue of water services until we get some answers and action on it. We have issues around phosphates, nitrates and E.coli, which are damaging for all of us but most damaging for the most vulnerable, our younger and older people. I ask the House to support me in calling for the Minister to come into the House to discuss this issue and let us hear about actions being taken.