Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not here yesterday and did not get the opportunity to express my condolences on the death of former Senator and TD, John Connor, and I want to do that. He was elected to the Dáil on the same day as my mother and they were great friends over the years. He fluctuated between the Dáil and the Seanad, which is a real sign of someone who is well liked outside of these walls but also inside them. I wish to offer his family and friends and supporters at home my condolences.

I ask that we have a debate with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about projects that are meant to be delivered and things that are meant to be done by Irish Water that have not been done. One relates to my home village in Grange. There is a community just outside the village of Grange called Knocklofty where people are constantly losing water pressure and water supply. I met a number of them last week and they were telling me stories of difficulties they were having. Essentially, what is happening is that the water supply is coming from the Ardfinnan water supply. At night, Irish Water decides to shut that down to preserve water so the amount of water in the reservoir increases. Then, it comes back at 7 o'clock in the morning. However, because of where Knocklofty is, on top of a very steep hill, it comes back extremely slowly. It does not come back until 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock in the evening for people at the top of the hill, which essentially means they are out of water for the whole day. There are outages and disruptions throughout the year. It is constantly happening to the point that some families have now gotten tanks put in themselves so that they have a water supply for 48 hours in case it goes out. Even those houses have had outages five or six times in the past year and they have a tank to keep them going for 48 hours, which means Irish Water has been out for well over 48 hours in that area. People have to drive 5 miles into Clonmel simply to go to the toilet. There are people there who have medical issues who need support and need water. It is a basic need. It does not cost a lot to fix the problem for the community of Knocklofty. They have not been as vocal as they could have been with all the challenges they have had to deal with. I ask that something be done by Irish Water to support the community of Knocklofty so they can have the basic essential of a water supply through the day.