Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and I thank Senator Garvey for tabling a fantastic motion regarding our access to clean water and to sanitation. As she pointed out, this is a United Nations sustainable development goal.

I support the motion, which is part of the programme for Government. It is important that we protect water from sea to source. I understand €8.5 billion has been committed from 2018 to 2027 and that a further €14 million is being provided for lead piping and so on. I welcome this commitment. We need to see it rolled out very quickly.

I work with Galway and Roscommon county councils. As referenced by Senator Eugene Murphy, we have a lot of experience of poor water, particularly in Ballinasloe where I come from, which was top of the EPA list in that our drinking water did not meet the criteria. My parents have filters in the house and we have always brought in bottled water.

I have a couple of questions for the Minister of State, all of which he may not be able to answer today. I am curious about the service level agreements, SLAs, with the local authorities and Irish Water. Are they working and what is the long-term plan in that regard?Is funding in place for group water scheme infrastructure? We still have quite a lot of issues with group water schemes, particularly in east Galway and, I am sure, in County Roscommon, and I am thinking of Caltra in particular. Local authority members are trying to do their best but there are significant delays in engaging with some of the owners of group water schemes on the measures they want to implement and some of the capital infrastructure they need for the piping. It is shocking to think that some of the pipes are more than 50 years old.

I want to raise the quality of water and a decision made on Friday that shocked everyone in Ballinasloe with regard to a waste transfer station. It is located in low-lying flood plains close to the River Suck. Planning permission was granted for the facility in 2016. I am part of a community group that has fought this for the past four years. Permission was granted last Friday in spite of numerous expert reports submitted about the impact on the water supply. We won in the High Court in 2018 because of the adverse impact on our water. The River Bunowen flows into the River Suck, from where the drinking water is taken. This is what the people in the area drink. We just got the all-clear from the EPA on water, yet a decision was made to allow this. Is there sufficient planning expertise in the local authorities in these areas with regard to the impact on local communities?