Manus Boyle (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the context of water charges, I wish to raise an issue that has arisen regarding houses in the Killybegs area over the past few days. Most families woke up on Monday morning to find they had no water. They have not had water for two days now. Thankfully, this morning the water came back on. I understand that the outage was due to scheduled cleaning works being carried out at the reservoir. Those works are essential and needed to be done. I thank the crews who worked on the ground for the past two evenings to get the service back up and running. The problem here is communication. Uisce Éireann fell down on this occasion. It did not contact local representatives, households, farmers or the elderly. Nobody knew what was happening. Nobody was informed of that this essential work being carried out. A simple written notice or something on the radio or on Facebook to say this work needed to be done would have allayed many people's fears.

I ask that the Minister engage with Uisce Éireann to review the notification process used in advance of works being carried out. I know essential works need to be done in places if there is a burst pipe or something like that, but these were planned works. If Donegal County Council or the ESB are doing something that is planned and that is coming down the line, they send notifications to households in written form or make an announcement on Ocean FM or Highland Radio. When the Minister is discussing a review with representatives from Uisce Éireann, will he have a chat with them about this matter?