Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I am glad he raised the issue. It is unfortunate he should have to raise it here. However, as a Member of the Seanad, he is entirely entitled to raise matters on behalf of the community in which he lives, particularly something as concerning as a boil-water notice that has lasted 14 days. I note he said he had difficulties in terms of communication. I understand the director of services at the county council also had difficulties in terms of communication. That makes it extremely difficult to communicate with people who have to buy water in order to do basic activities. The Senator stated that tankers have not been brought in.

I have no better answer for the Senator this morning. I am very sorry to say that, because the reply I have here essentially restates what the Senator said. It simply says there has been a boil-water notice since 28 June and that I am to recognise the inconvenience of the notice, which was issued as a precautionary measure to protect the health of 1,723 customers, due to the detection of something nasty in the water supply that I cannot pronounce. The notice was issued after consultation with the HSE. On behalf of the Department, I am to take the opportunity to reinforce the advice that people should boil their water before drinking it. Uisce Éireann has indicated that its compliance and operations experts are on site.

I know the Senator already knows that because it is almost certainly the information that is available to anybody who is looking at the website, for example, and looking for a further and better answer about how long they are going to have to boil water to do basic things such as care for their infants and small children or elderly parents. People need their health maintained, quite apart from the inconvenience of having to go out and buy water to carry out extra basic activities. I know that people there are very resilient and able to do all of those things as well. However, it is reasonable to expect some measure of communication, expectation management or explanation as to the issue that has gone wrong and how it might be remedied in the future.

I am terribly sorry to say that, despite being a Member of this House and coming into this House to raise a perfectly legitimate concern on behalf of the people in his area, I cannot provide the Senator with any further or better information.