Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House, for listening to all our contributions and for his positive contribution at the end. We could probably talk about water all day. If we do not sort out water, we will not and cannot sort out housing. We know that housing is one of the top issues in Ireland, along with health. Health and housing will never be sorted if we do not sort out water. This is a very serious issue. It is actually a crisis but we do not call it a water crisis. It is time that we started using the word "crisis". We have a climate crisis, we have the health crisis and we need to start using the word "crisis" with regard to water also.

I have mentioned Miltown Malbay on several occasions in the Seanad. Not only have households there lost water for 72 hours, they have lost their water supply more than 72 times in the past six months alone. My village of Inagh had no water for six weeks. The state of water in this country is one of the main reasons that drove me to enter politics. The water cycle is taught in every school but we, as a people and as a Government, seem to forget our part in that water cycle. We are here to represent the people of Ireland who all have issues with water, be it wasting money on plastic bottles of water, problems with sewerage or not trusting the quality of water when it comes to swimming in it. There are many issues and this is our job. We need to do this to sort out water for people.

I referred to the need for funding for infrastructure in several ways, but it is also key that we look to nature-based solutions in the context of poor water quality. When we look to nature, we see how it can be done and often at a lower cost. I have seen, for example, how reed bed systems and services work for 56 houses in one small village. We will have to do a lot more research on that. It is not all about hard engineering and wasting loads of money on consultants here and there all around the country. We need to do it well and we need to do it with nature in mind. I look to the Minister of State and his expertise in that field in bringing this to the Department because he is an expert on nature based solutions around water issues and catchment area solutions.

With regard to farmers, we must be very careful because there are all kinds of farmers and all kinds of people responsible for this problem. Maybe some farmers are contributing, but not all farmers. There are lots of different farmers all over the country and I hate to generalise by using the word "all" about, for example, all the Greens, all the women or all the people from Clare. We must be careful because there are many brilliant farmers who are not polluting the waters. There are plenty who do but we have to make sure that we treat people individually. We spend millions of euro on water treatment, but nearly half of our treated water is lost through leaks. People can get sick from poisons in our water. I have had two families in touch with me whose children suffered kidney failure.

It is good that Senator Boylan mentioned fracking. There is a difference between talking about things and doing things. I started Fracking Free Clare back in the day. It led to Clare County Council being the first council in Ireland to ban fracking. I made a documentary about the matter, which we showed all over Ireland. It led to a national ban on fracking. I feel very strongly about liquid fracked gas and I have often spoken about the contaminated water that comes with fracked gas. It is important that if we are contributing that we contribute in a solution-based way. We are all aware of all the problems but saying that something is bad and actually doing something about it are two very different things.

We need to start using rainwater harvesting. This topic has not come up today. I have friends who were plumbers in Australia where it is illegal not to have rainwater harvesting equipment on one's roof.I know from talking to my plumber at home, Mr. Joe Hegarty, that if I had a rainwater harvester, I could buy 1 cu. m, or 1,000 l, of water for €80 in my local co-operative in Ennistymon, fit the harvester onto the roof of the house and use an infrared light to make the water palatable and usable. That is something we must consider at local level. At a wider level, I believe there is no rainwater harvesting infrastructure in Ireland worth mentioning except for a few domestic systems.

We have a great deal to do, but we cannot do it overnight. In the meantime, I ask that we improve our communications with individuals when they lose their water or have water issues. Sometimes they get very frustrated not just about the lack of water but also about the lack of communication from Irish Water or the local authorities. When one has a problem, half of it is the problem itself and the other half is not being able to communicate about it or knowing what is going to happen, how it is going to be resolved or what the cause of the problem is. I asked my colleagues to dress in blue today because I feel very blue about this issue. It is a serious issue and, as the Minister of State said, we should talk about it more often. Perhaps other parties could raise it in another motion. There is much work to be done on legislation for it as well.

I did not even mention flooding and the many other issues we have. However, I will conclude on that note. I appreciate the support we received from Senators, both those in opposition and those on the Government side. It is important that we work together and push the Minister and the Minister of State on this matter. We owe that to the people who put us in this House. We must take this water crisis seriously.