Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise the contamination of the water supplies at Gorey and Ballymore Eustace recently. The Minister of State will be aware of the report of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, which was quite damning of the failures of the relevant authorities. What is particularly important is the need to restore public trust in our public water supply.

I will refer to the incidents in Gorey because I experienced them. From engaging with people in the local community, I know exactly what happened. It is now clear that between 19 and 24 August, following a systems failure at the Creagh water treatment plant in Gorey, contaminants entered the water and in subsequent days, significant numbers of people became ill. We understand that there can be systems failures but the difficulty in this instance was that as the illnesses began to be reported to Irish Water and Wexford County Council and as a number of local councillors and I also began to report them, we kept being told by the relevant authorities that there was no problem, the water was safe and there was no issue. We placed our trust in those agencies, yet, at the same time, we knew the evidence on the ground was mounting. It was clear it was coming from the western side of town, which was serviced by the Creagh plant. We knew from local GPs and hospitals. Pharmacies were selling out of Imodium tablets. We knew the stories were mounting. It was only towards the end of August and into early September that there was finally an acknowledgement that there was a problem. We have heard the reports about the 52 people who presented to GPs and hospitals but that does not capture the full story. These people are family and friends. There are people with whom I grew up and whom I know well who were seriously ill during this period, including pregnant women, a father and husband who is undergoing chemotherapy, elderly and vulnerable people who were simply coming for family dinner at various houses and people who had cramps and were vomiting and passing blood, which are the most horrible of experiences. I have been talking to people who have been experiencing all of this.There were people who, on the basis they were told there was no problem with the water, went and got Covid tests, assuming that they had Covid. There was a period when people were being told the water was fine and there was no problem. Subsequently we discovered there was a case. While the systems failure was bad, the failure in communications was particularly appalling. The difficulty now for those of us who, for a long time, have defended agencies on the basis that we place our trust in professionals is that the trust is not there. What happened in Gorey could happen in any other part of the country.

We have met the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. In fairness to him, he seized the issue and has ordered a review of all of the plants. There is now a serious question on the lack of public trust in our public water supply, certainly in the Gorey area, and how Irish Water and local authorities manage this. I am particularly concerned as more powers are going to be transferred to Irish Water that if instances such as this arise in the future what level of accountability we as elected representatives will have from this utility. This is something about which there is still considerable anger in my community. I certainly hope it would never be experienced by any other local area.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Byrne for his Commencement matter on this very important issue. In a letter to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage last week, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, outlined two serious incidents in recent weeks that occurred in drinking water plants. These were in the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant which serves parts of Dublin city, and the plant that serves Gorey in County Wexford, as the Senator referenced. In the case of Gorey, the incident included illnesses detected by the HSE in the community served by that water supply. It is important to note these incidents have been rectified and the water supply from the two plants is now safe to drink.

In its letter, the EPA stated an abject failure in management oversight, operational control and responsiveness at two public water treatment plants had allowed unsafe water to enter the public drinking water supply and endanger public health. As the Senator quite rightly pointed out, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Government find the failures identified by the EPA unacceptable. People's safety is paramount. Following receipt of the letter, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, met the managing director of Irish Water as well as the chief executives of Dublin City Council and Wexford County Council at the weekend. The Minister has requested that Irish Water immediately undertake an audit of water treatment plants throughout the country. It will prioritise the largest 20 treatment plants, visiting each of them to ensure proper processes are in place to deal with and escalate any incident that may arise. This is key to having public confidence in our water treatment plants.

Irish Water's managing director and the local authority chief executives assured the Minister of their full co-operation and that their organisations would work together in full co-operation to put in place any urgent and necessary corrective measures. Irish Water will work with each local authority in the coming two weeks to conduct refresher training on incident reporting for all plants throughout the country. Where appropriate, Irish Water will put its own staff on site to ensure the continued safety of water treatment plants.

Ultimately there are limitations to the current working arrangements between Irish Water and local authorities and this is impacting on the delivery of services. One of the first initiatives the Minister advanced on taking office was to develop a Government policy paper on the steps required to transform Irish Water into a proper unified national utility. A process is under way with the Workplace Relations Commission to deliver transformation of this service. The Minister has also requested that Irish Water and local authorities take further steps to improve Irish Water's control of all water service plants in the immediate term pending the implementation of the agreed longer-term operational and staffing arrangements. On 4 October, the Minister will again meet Irish Water and local authorities on this very question.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, who is aware that reports will come quite soon from the HSE on the scale of the medical problems that arose in the course of this period. We know that at least 52 cases have been reported but there may be more. I hope the report will be published as quickly as possible.It would be appropriate at that time for the Minister of State or the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come to the House to discuss the report's findings.

I was on "Morning Ireland" on RTÉ Radio 1 yesterday and I heard the chief executive of Irish Water respond on the matter. There seems to be an effort there to try to shift some of the blame to Wexford County Council. I have spoken with the chief executive of the council and I hope there is no effort to shift the blame to Irish Water. The affected people want full accountability and a full explanation of exactly what happened and why, when all the evidence was mounting, their voices were not heard properly. They also want to know the measures being put in place. That report from the HSE should be published as quickly as possible and either the Minister of State or the Minister should come to this House to present both that report and the findings of the full review of the audit of all the water plants around the country. That would restore confidence.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for his comments and for, quite rightly, pointing out the difficulties in this matter. I agree with him on the question of transparency and when the report is delivered it should be scrutinised by these Houses. I also mentioned the importance of people having confidence in our water supply and I can assure the House that everything is being done through this audit to ensure those processes are in place.

I also agree with the Senator about the chief executive of Wexford County Council. I have heard great reports about him and I know the local authority sector is doing major work in responding to many issues. We have witnessed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic how that sector has protected the most vulnerable people in getting community calls up and running within 24 or 48 hours. It was incredible work.

I am sure we can all work together with Irish Water and the Wexford and Dublin chief executives and their organisations. We will resolve this. That commitment is firm because public confidence and safety is paramount when it comes to our watercourses.