Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the contamination of the water supplies at Gorey and Ballymore Eustace recently. The Minister of State will be aware of the report of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, which was quite damning of the failures of the relevant authorities. What is particularly important is the need to restore public trust in our public water supply.

I will refer to the incidents in Gorey because I experienced them. From engaging with people in the local community, I know exactly what happened. It is now clear that between 19 and 24 August, following a systems failure at the Creagh water treatment plant in Gorey, contaminants entered the water and in subsequent days, significant numbers of people became ill. We understand that there can be systems failures but the difficulty in this instance was that as the illnesses began to be reported to Irish Water and Wexford County Council and as a number of local councillors and I also began to report them, we kept being told by the relevant authorities that there was no problem, the water was safe and there was no issue. We placed our trust in those agencies, yet, at the same time, we knew the evidence on the ground was mounting. It was clear it was coming from the western side of town, which was serviced by the Creagh plant. We knew from local GPs and hospitals. Pharmacies were selling out of Imodium tablets. We knew the stories were mounting. It was only towards the end of August and into early September that there was finally an acknowledgement that there was a problem. We have heard the reports about the 52 people who presented to GPs and hospitals but that does not capture the full story. These people are family and friends. There are people with whom I grew up and whom I know well who were seriously ill during this period, including pregnant women, a father and husband who is undergoing chemotherapy, elderly and vulnerable people who were simply coming for family dinner at various houses and people who had cramps and were vomiting and passing blood, which are the most horrible of experiences. I have been talking to people who have been experiencing all of this.There were people who, on the basis they were told there was no problem with the water, went and got Covid tests, assuming that they had Covid. There was a period when people were being told the water was fine and there was no problem. Subsequently we discovered there was a case. While the systems failure was bad, the failure in communications was particularly appalling. The difficulty now for those of us who, for a long time, have defended agencies on the basis that we place our trust in professionals is that the trust is not there. What happened in Gorey could happen in any other part of the country.

We have met the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. In fairness to him, he seized the issue and has ordered a review of all of the plants. There is now a serious question on the lack of public trust in our public water supply, certainly in the Gorey area, and how Irish Water and local authorities manage this. I am particularly concerned as more powers are going to be transferred to Irish Water that if instances such as this arise in the future what level of accountability we as elected representatives will have from this utility. This is something about which there is still considerable anger in my community. I certainly hope it would never be experienced by any other local area.