Mattie McGrath blasts Irish Water over Conmel supply crisis

Goan-meh-goo, thank you very much. I'm Rebecca Gordon and Korn Corder for me this topic today. And I have to clear an interest also that I do my company, I'm involved in some work for Irish Water. But, Minister, I'm disappointed with no disrespect to you that the Minister's not here, or the General Minister is not here. And that is the real problem, there's absolutely zero accountability with Irish water, to us, the public representatives. But don't mind us, to the public who are depending on this water. Conmel Town, I see David Murphy is here, and he's well aware of as well as I am, is a chronic situation. I have a company, just spoke to them five minutes ago, they've been on to me in a week, 65 jobs are about to leave the town because they can't use the water. They have to bring in tankers to have clean water to use for their manufacturing product. Leave it and go to the North East. Just imagine. But this is chronic. You have people in charge here who don't have a clue and don't seem to care. And I can meet engineers and staff that I can talk to and understand the water. I meet executives and different executives and more executives, and they bamboozin' with them talking about investment and investment. And there is investment going on, we accept that. But there's also damage being done to the water service that we have supplied Conmel for decades, for a century and a half. Conmel hit the floor before Irish water took over, and up to recently, was using 220 cubes of water per hour. That was being supplied from Denari and from the reservoir south of the town up on the Commeres. And indeed, that was being supplied by one 10-inch main in around Kilmer Commer and one 7-inch main going to the reservoir. They took out the 7-inch main investment, big investment, and put in a 9-inch main, increased the water into the reservoir. But they wouldn't listen to anybody and increased the pipes going out. But then, what did they do? They sabotaged the 10-inch main. It was laid about 22 years ago, I remember it well, that could supply so much of the water into the town. And now we're depending on the reservoir and the plant, and it's under pressure. And every evening, it's down, down, down and low. It cannot maintain this. I argued this with them, and so did others, prior to doing this work. The contracts that did it knew it was madness. Imagine the captain main, just going into Kilmer Commer, which is the county of Waterford, a 10-inch PVC main. But other mains that have asbestos and other kinds of poor quality. This is a perfect main. And there was a supply to the town, including the hospital. The hospital, the first time ever, two weeks ago, ran out of water, and they had to get in tankers. This is sinful and shameful that Irish water can do this kind of black adding. And no recourse to anybody. They have men there that know the system, but they don't want to engage with them. They've actually transferred one of them to Carrick, and sure, he knows water intimately. But this is the kind of black adding they don't know, and they don't want to listen. But it's shocking that they can sabotage. And people didn't have dirty water, buy water notices for months in that Fenneries water scheme. We're on it since early September. They now intend to move on to the Galtese plant, where they're going to cause wrecks there as well. Somebody has to rein them in, make them accountable, and not give them copies more buildings to put in infrastructure. I welcome now that builders are going to provide infrastructure, because we can't wait for Irish water. Unfit for purpose. A monstrosity that was created here by the Feneghel government. And the sooner it's disbanded and taken down, the better. The businesses that are paying for water, paying for this company, and every other business, are entitled to service. The households are entitled to have clean drinking water and reliable, including the hospital, doctors, surgeries, you name it. I'm in the centre of the town, in my office. We have a lovely water supply from Pearl of Anew. It's there for 200 years. They're going to disconnect that. It's flowing down into the town, never gives trouble. All at the moment, and all during the summer and last year, when there was trouble all over the town, we had a water supply in the centre of the town. But they're going to disconnect that. They tell us they can't upgrade it to meet the standards. It's sabotage. It's nothing else. If they're not stopped soon, they will drive employment, drive jobs, and drive people into insanity. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy. Minister, you have four minutes. I would like to thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which I'm taking on behalf of the Minister. The Deputy will appreciate that the supply of public water and the provision of water services in general are matters for Ishka Aran. In the first instance, Ishka Aran has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery, and operation at national, regional, and local level. The Minister has no function regarding the specific Ishka Aran's operations to which you refer. The Environmental Protection Agency, in turn, and as environmental regulator, is responsible for setting quality standards and enforcing compliance with EU directors and national regulations for the provision of drinking water. As the Public Health Authority, it is the HSE's decision regarding issuing a boil notice water. However, to be helpful, the Minister has made inquiries to Ishka Aran on both your behalf and behalf of Deputy Michael Murphy, who raised this directly. And Ishka Aran acknowledges that aspects of the water treatment plants and network infrastructure in Clamell are aged and fragile and the impact water supply issues has on businesses and residents in the Clamell area as a result. Ishka Aran is committed to investing significantly in Clamell to deliver a more robust, resilient water supply, which will include upgraded treatment facilities, storage, and an upgraded network. Ishka Aran has confirmed that the delivery of a strategic multi-million euro investment to modernise and upgrade the water assets across the town is well underway. When complete, this will provide local homes and businesses with a safer, more reliable water supply in the future. Clamell and the surrounding areas are currently supplied with drinking water from three water treatment plants, Poulinville, Gonari, and Munro. The area has been subject to ongoing operational issues impacting homes and businesses, including intermittent boil water notices and unplanned interruptions to supply. While these works are ongoing, Ishka Aran has been in contact with the customers in question to keep them informed of progress being made to lift the boil water notice. The Ishka Aran water charges plan set out a compensation mechanism when water quality is compromised and unfit for human consumption, such as when boil water and drinking water restrictions notice is applied. Business customers who pay charges can follow up with Ishka Aran as they may be entitled to a rebate. The Department's priority is to ensure that people's health is protected and that adequate water is available for all consumers. We all want to see this notice lifted without undue delay, but only when the HSA and EPA have confirmed the water supply is safe. Thank you. There is investment, but normally that investment improves the situation. The investment here has done awful damage to the situation. And there was, there was, was resilient and continuous supply. It's not resilient. We have resilient supplies. We've had them for generations. From Palavanuga and gravity supply. Now there was turn around and pump the water back up there. And, you know, that doesn't make sense at all. I told you we needed 220 cubes per hour. And now we have restricted that because we've removed a 10-inch pipe. To actually put a 4-inch pipe into it for the housing state and county water for Kilimancoma and then capped it there and can't be used anymore in emergency. The hospital never were without water until two weeks ago. Imagine our hospital and they're getting tankers. Business are crippled with enough charges and they need a supply of water paying daily for water in and water out. So, Minister, this is the situation. There's no Minister, he has no responsibility, the EPA and the HSE. The HSE, another body unfit for purpose. The EPA have set the standards too high, in my opinion. And what the problem is, is mechanisation and computerisation of the plants. No physical persons going out there when you have heavy downpours of rain and going out and cleaning the screens. But they always did it. The late Mr Hartigan, PJ Cullen and Joe Callaghan, which is many other people, and went out and cleaned the sieves and the water went. Now we're waiting for a computer to send a message to somebody else that we may answer his phone or may not. The workers then are fatigued and are disgusted. And then you're trying to move them over to Irish water. Good workers, excellent county council staff all over the country, but in South Tipperary we couldn't have better. We couldn't have better than the team we have of people. And they would have been bullied across to a company that they have no faith in. They're ashamed to drive the vans with their names on the side of them. Ashamed. That's what they tell me. And they have no intention of going over to Irish water. So we'll have a worse situation when their expertise, their knowledge and their capability to fix the millions and look after the network is gone. So we're going from bad to worse, Minister. And if someone takes a hold of this and will lose job, business, people, you said health. People's health is being damaged, our mental health, because they have no water and then they have dirty water. Gourmet Mulgut. Minister, two minutes. Gourmet Mulgut, Kirlik. Deputy, both our water and wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring the systems up to the quality and resilience standards required of a modern service to provide repopulation growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change. The preferred long-term approach for Clomel, as set out in Ishka-Aaron's National Water Resource Plan, is the construction of a new water treatment plant with water sourced via abstraction from the River Sur. The overall plan sets out strategic options to ensure a more secure, reliable and sustainable water supply for almost 370,000 customers in the region over the next 25 years, supporting future growth in population and industrial development. The updated National Development Plan has secured record levels of investment of €12.2 billion for the water sector, of which €11.7 billion will be invested by Ishka-Aaron to support the delivery of key strategic projects in our cities and regions to deliver the additional water services capacity required for the new housing targets while prioritising public health and safeguarding the environment. This investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, support improved water supplies right across Ireland, including rural Ireland, and support a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine area, making a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs. And as per the very specific concerns in relation to Clomel, as raised by yourself and pre-UCY Deputy Michael Murphy, the Minister remains available to be contacted directly to address this issue in tandem with Ishka-Aaron, the EPA and the HSE. And I thank the Deputy for his intervention this morning. Thank you.