Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Is oth liom a rá go bhfuil mé ar ais anseo arís ag caint faoin scéal mar gheall ar uisce. It saddens me to have to come back up here to the Seanad again today to raise the issue of water for possibly the tenth time. My first speech was about water as well. I should not laugh because it is such a serious issue.

We are in a water emergency. I know we are in a pandemic and we talk about a housing emergency, but if we do not look at water and the issues around water as an emergency in this country then we are going nowhere.

Last week we saw the beach in Kilkee closed down due to raw sewage. That is something we would expect in a poor underdeveloped country but not in this country. Last year we saw the beach in Lahinch closed down. We had major issues with raw sewage in Liscannor. It kills me to name places with raw sewage issues because I want people to come and visit these places in my country.

This is an issue throughout Ireland. We have seen the statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. There are major issues with water at so many levels in this country. Until we start looking at water as an emergency we are not going to solve these issues.

The people of Kilkee were promised a treatment plant in 2021. It was to be finished by the beginning of this year. Now they are told it will be 2025. We are promised a similar plant in Liscannor. I had to make a YouTube video about it to try to draw attention to the raw sewage there. The plant was promised for the third quarter two years ago. It has only started although we are still unsure how it is progressing.

I am unsure whose fault it is and I do not care. However, we need to solve our water issue first. We will not be building any houses in town centres or developing serviced sites or anything like that until we sort out water.

I urge the Leader of the House to have a specific debate on water and what we can do as Senators to help the relevant Department and all Departments to look at the issue of water as a priority. We have people getting sick from E. coli poisoning. That is a major issue. We have major issues with people not having access to water. I get calls almost every day from someone who has lost water. The situation in Miltown Malbay has been an ongoing disgrace but I imagine Clare is not unique on this issue. I do not believe we are taking it seriously enough. It is a basic human right to have access to clean water. Many of us pay for water as we are in groups and so on but we are not getting it right. I am unsure what Irish Water needs. Does it need more staff or money? Whatever needs to be done, we need to look at getting it done. I urge the Leader to bring in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, to focus on water alone. I know he has a great deal going on - everyone does - but the need to have water as a basic right must be dealt with and seen as an emergency, now more than ever.