Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate his update on Poulavanogue. The problem is the quality of water from the Monroe source, which will now be used instead of Poulavanogue for a period. Monroe was established in the 1990s as a temporary measure and now it looks like it will exist for another ten years. The quality of water that comes from Monroe, which is going to service the town of Clonmel, and the businesses in particular, is not up to scratch. Businesses will be caught with an expense through no fault of their own because the quality of water is not what it should be.

The Minister of State mentioned the framework. I acknowledge that a long-term strategy is being put in place by Irish Water in respect of Clonmel. As I have said on numerous occasions in this Chamber, the relationship between local representatives and Uisce Éireann needs to improve and especially at local authority level. On this issue, I would appreciate if there could be engagement with myself, and councillors John Fitzgerald and Michael Murphy, on the long-term strategy for Clonmel in terms of what is best for the town. This should happen before the strategy is published. Such engagement is essential so that when we go out and the strategy is there, we can defend the decisions that have been made by Uisce Éireann and explain why the strategy is good for the town. It is very hard for us to do that if we do not have engagement beforehand. I ask the Minister of State to use his influence to give us an opportunity to discuss, with the operational team of Uisce Éireann, the long-term strategy going forward for the town of Clonmel and, in particular, for businesses.