John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Ryan for raising this important issue on the boil water notice for the Macroom public water supply in County Cork which has been in place since 12 September. I recognise the inconvenience placed on those who have a boil water notice on their water supply. As the Senator rightly pointed out, the inconvenience for householders and businesses is very significant. I have experienced it in my own constituency in Waterford as well. Uisce Éireann has informed me that this boil water notice was issued as a precautionary measure to protect the health of approximately 4,697 customers due to operational issues at Macroom water treatment plant which resulted in elevated turbidity levels in the treated water. This notice was issued by Uisce Éireann after consultation with the HSE. I take this opportunity to reinforce the advice that all consumers affected by this notice must boil their water before drinking. Uisce Éireann has also indicated that the operational issues at the plant have now been resolved and turbidity levels have returned to normal. Uisce Éireann is working with the HSE to lift the boil water notice as quickly and as safely as possible. Lifting of a boil water notice will only occur when the issue is resolved and the HSE confirms that there is no further risk to the public.

The Senator rightly asked what is going to be done about this. I would be surprised if the Senator was not aware that, in April of this year, a €6.5 million upgrade of the Macroom water treatment plant commenced. It is a very significant investment that will address the risks to water quality and the frequent boil water notices which the Senator pointed out the people of Macroom have experienced over the past number of years. In recognition of this, significant investment is being put in by Government and Uisce Éireann. The works are expected to be completed in the summer of next year. This will have a significant impact in terms of improving water quality and reducing the number of outages that have been in the system.

Uisce Éireann is being allocated €514 million in 2025 of the €1 billion capital investment announced by the Minister for Finance in budget 2025. The budget allocation in total will increase next year and in the funding of the strategic plan of €16.9 billion through to 2029, which was approved in November of last year. Very significant Government funding is going into Uisce Éireann to address many of the legacy issues that have been in place. I recognise that Macroom has a growing population. I had the pleasure of visiting there two or three weeks ago as Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government to see significant housing development at an infill site there. Obviously, adequate water and wastewater supply is critical to ensuring that expansion can continue in Macroom. I am extremely pleased to say there is a significant €6.5 million investment under way right at this moment which will be completed in the summer of next year, which will have a very positive and significant impact for the people of the area.