Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)

I congratulate Martin Hughes and he is very welcome here. I thank Martin Groves and Bridget Doody for their kindness when I was elected to the House a couple of months ago.

I wish to bring up the issue of Irish Water. It is a big problem. I thank the Irish Water staff on the ground in County Donegal. They have been kind and courteous all summer, when there have been numerous problems, and have been very good to me. Parts of Carndonagh, Clonmany, Culdaff, Malin and Falcarragh had no water for most of the summer between burst pipes and reservoirs running very low. I call on Irish Water to do a full report on the infrastructure, including the pipes and reservoirs, in these areas in County Donegal. Businesses and households have been really badly affected. Hotels have had no water and coffee shops have been closing because they have had no water. It is really not good enough at the height of the visitor season in Donegal. We are told Irish Water has been given much more money to invest in infrastructure.I want some of that money to be invested in Donegal. We really need it because we seem to be left behind in everything else. At the end of the day all we want is a safe water scheme to run for the people in the county. I would like the Minister to come to the House to have a debate on Irish Water to see what we can do. This cannot go on for another summer.