Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)

I concur with my party colleagues. The Minister needs to reverse this. People are hard pressed the way things are with the cost of living. This really needs to be sorted.

Another issue I will take up today is about Irish Water. North Inishowen, Malin and Carndonagh were without water for three to four days last week. Shops, hairdressers, businesses and households had no water for four days. If you try to get into contact with Irish Water, you get a phone number. When you get someone different in the call centre, they do not know what you are talking about or where the leak is. A whole new plan needs to be put together here. Up to 400 or 500 people were ringing and Irish Water said it did not know there was a leak in Malin Head. That is not good enough in this day and age.

We are in the height of the summer now. Businesses in Donegal are really depending on a good summer. At the end of the day, if they have no water, the business has to close. Households also suffer. In 2025, it is not good enough. I call on Irish Water to have a full and frank look at the pipeline in Inishowen. For the last three days of last week, my phone never stopped with people ringing me. They could not get a straight answer. That was the problem. If people could be told when the water would be turned back on and restart, they could open their businesses and plan. However, what is happening with Irish Water is just not working. Maybe the Leader could try to do something for me on that.