Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to organise a debate, at the earliest possible opportunity, to discuss the issue of water infrastructure throughout the country. Many parts of rural Ireland are serviced by old iron or metal water pipes, which are well past their sell-by date and, in many cases, have started to leak and crack. There is also old asbestos piping throughout that pipe network. Ever since the State transferred the responsibility for water infrastructure to Irish Water, unfortunately, the same level of scrutiny at a local level has gone. Previously, the county councils arranged to fix the network within their own areas. There is obviously a funding deficit that needs to be met.

I would like to have a debate on this issue in the House. I can give plenty of examples, particularly in the west Clare area around Cooraclare and Creegh, where a break in the pipe has been seen every week. The weather changes, the ground becomes inundated with water and the pipe expands and breaks. It is fixed but it breaks again, sometimes every second day. It has people driven demented, including those with young children who are unable to make bottles for their kids and elderly people who are unable to take a shower because the breakage impacts on their heating system. We have got to find a better way to address these rural communities, where water infrastructure provided by the State is in place but is not fit for purpose. The area between Creegh and Cooraclare, over the past two to three years, has seen consistent breaks, week in week out. People have had enough. They pay their taxes and are entitled to expect a service that is at least somewhat consistent and in line with every other part of the county and country.