John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask for a debate about Irish Water and our water infrastructure when we come back to this House in September. I ask because of an issue I raised previously in this House over the past two years, which is now quite serious in my home town of Dundalk, a town of 42,000 people, where the water has been absolutely rotten on many occasions. It is brown throughout the day for a huge number of people across the biggest town in this country. Over the past two weeks, I have collected evidence. I have more than 180 examples of homes affected. This creates a range of issues, affecting people trying to bathe young babies and elderly people who cannot use the drinking water and are spending money on bottled water. The excuses from Irish Water simply have not been up to the standard I would expect from such a body. This has happened every summer for the past three years. This summer in particular it is exceptionally difficult. There never seems to be a proper solution in place from Irish Water. We should have a debate about general water infrastructure in September because it is not on that a town of such a size - 42,000 people - has dealt with this issue every summer for the past three years. I know it is the same in other towns and villages. We have to come up with a solution because people continuously having to buy bottled water is not it. I would appreciate if we could have that debate at some stage in September when we come back.