Mattie McGrath calls proposed water switch 'insanity'

I want to wish you well in your new role and all the Ministers that have been appointed, no problem working constructively, but this has to change here, where Ministers, Line Ministers, are coming in to take topical issues. I met the Minister in the canteen, you told me you would take it and that is fine, but this practice has crept in here and is totally unfair to deputies. You expect to have the Line Minister to deal with issues that they can get an understanding, and it is not good enough and I hope it changes in this stall. Minister Iska and I are currently working on a £20 million investment project to move sections of caramel water consumers onto different stores. You might say, what is the big deal? The so-called solution includes upgrades to the water treatment plant at Munro, improvements for the pumping station and a 15km pipe that will see hard water be brought into all parts of Clannmel. You might say hard water. Iska, Cooey, yes, very hard water. Lime. So this is a situation where the water at the present for the whole half of the town is coming from a pull of an oak supply in Coindy-Port-Laurega, in Waterford, up the hill. Gravity flow. A wonderful plant is working for, I suppose, 200 years or more, and there was a well in the Ragwell that is lying idle now that used to have a backup supply for the centre of the town. They want to stop all that natural supply, supplying the businesses and households in the town and bring in the water for Munro, which is out, as I said, 15km, and that is depending on a borehole and a pump. And I understand this week there have been two or three hours that thing that unexplained, they can't explain why the wells stopped. So wells will stop. Anybody who has a house well knows wells will go dry, wells will stop. In the storms, electricity, wells are out. And you disconnect gravity flow into the town. It's nothing short of insanity. And the hard water, the Chamber of Commerce indeed have expressed huge concerns about costs. Remember all the business people in Clannmel and every place else pay for the water and pay quite dearly for water in and water out. They expect to have water. That's not going to destroy all their equipment. And many, many high spec equipment in cafeterias and in hotels and in all premises like that, and the householders. Already the people north of the bypass in Clannmel are under hard water and they have huge problems, huge cost implications putting in softeners and replacing the salts. And Irish Water won't even put in a softener, a big softener at the source. They won't entertain that. They were begging them to leave the water supply. Why would you cut off your nose and bite your face? Cutting off a supply that's working. They're saying it's because of, you know, standards of water. But it's always been of a high standard, high quality. And I salute Eugene D'Argan now and all the other water, Mr Hattigan before him, the caretakers who looked after it. And it was built by hand, crafted and a fabulous reactor reservoir. It was built by the British Army, I'm sure. But it's still the test of time. And now we're cutting off, we're giving the whole town this hard water, when, you know, depending on a borehole, which will run dry, no doubt about it, that's unexplained, I said, out of this week. Business people have sat down with Irish Water. The manager of the Park Hotel, Richard Leeson of Leeson's Mayor and Nuala Hickey of Hickey's Bakery, long established businesses, they don't want this to happen, because it's going to wreak, cause havoc to their equipment, and who's going to support them? They're already struggling in business without doing this, as I said, mad so-called solution. It's not a solution. They've done huge interruptions all over the town in preparatory books to bring this new supply in, and digging up and changing and directing. It's going to be bedlam for business and householders, and it's not acceptable that a company like Irish Water, who are answerable and accountable to nobody. That's why I went to the Minister here today, and I'm appealing for the Minister to bring them in and somebody talk to them about announcements that's been carried on. Thank you, Deputy. Minister. Thank you very much, Deputy, and congratulations on your successful re-election to Dáil Éireann. As you've alluded to, I am taking this topical issue on behalf of the relevant Minister, who in this case is Minister Brown and also Minister Cummins, and I'm absolutely happy to pass on your feedback in relation to what you've just said about Irish water and your ask of them. The supply of public water and the provision of water services, as you've acknowledged, are matters for Iska Éireann. Iska Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, at local and at regional level. Under Section 7 of the Water Services Act No. 2, 2013, no Minister has function regarding Iska Éireann's specific operations, as you've said yourself. However, to be helpful, the relevant Minister and I have made inquiries to Iska Éireann on your behalf, and they have confirmed that they are committed to delivering safe and secure drinking water supplies for customers. This requires them to comply with all Irish and European Union standards relating to drinking water, and in particular the European Union drinking water regulation. I have been informed that the water supply from Munro Water Treatment Plant is indeed harder than the Pula Van Oag Treatment Plant. However, the improvement in water quality and the importance of protecting public health strongly offsets any inconvenience which may result from a change in water hardness. Iska Éireann has advised that hard water contains high level of natural minerals that have come from rock and soil and is very common in Ireland's drinking supply. Hard water does not pose any public health risk and it does meet the drinking water regulations and depending on local geology, the hardness of the water supply will vary, but such water is perfectly safe to drink. Further information on hard water and advice on how to manage it, because you have iterated a number of concerns that businesses in particular have around this. There is advice on this available at the Iska Éireann website. We have a strong customer service focus through the water charges plan and customer charter, which outlines the standard of service customers should expect to receive. That water charges plan sets out a really comprehensive mechanism in cases where water quality may be compromised or unfit for human consumption, such as boil water, drinking water restriction notices, but the message here is this water is absolutely safe. Business customers, as you have said, deputy, pay for water charges and those who pay for water charges are entitled to a rebate under the customer handbook, as agreed with the Commission for Regulation and Utilities in instances where it is unsafe. However, the implementation of that plan is a matter for Iska Éireann and any issues which cannot be resolved by them can, of course, go to the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities. The Prime Minister, I have a suggestion. I think I look healthy enough. The water is perfect. It is vandalism. State vandalism to actually dismantle a perfect scheme. It is a backup. It will be dismantled altogether. When the pump supply, as I said, has outage this week. Connell has been without water, I suppose, nearly 50 days last year without water, and maybe more. It has been constantly interrupted. I know we have a denarii supply, I know it very well, and the Parliament and then we have the Munro. And will the well? It won't. The well won't last. Any household knows that themselves. Well's run out, pumps and the source might go down. So the failure of Irish water to be able to give answers to why the well stop functioning a number of times in the last week is very worrying. And you talk about the website and everything else. It's lovely on paper, but it's not functioning. Irish water and functioning as a utility. And the sooner that stood down, the better. And nobody will engage with you. And people that will engage with you don't know any of what you're talking about. And they don't want to take any experience from the retiring personnel who are going out. They've offered to show people where all the connections and valves are. But no, they know everything, but yet they know nothing. So there's nothing so blind as those who cannot see at all. But the business people of Clonmel and the household in the greater part of Clonmel, old Clonmel, will not accept this because it's going to cost them a fortune. And it's going to damage all their machines, very high-spec machines that they have in equipment, as we know now for catering and for many other things, for washing, for everything. So why is, as I said, utter madness to destroy and destruct an old functioning water supply that has survived the Clonmel town for hundreds of years. And this all in the name of modernisation. And the standards actually they've set are actually too high. That's the problem when the reservoirs as well tripping out because it's all computerised and the standards are too high actually set. And they need to be examined by the EPA as well. We need common sense to prevail here and we need to keep the soft water and we don't need to destroy a periphery functioning source that is continuing to supply all of the greater part of the town of Clonmel, as I said, the heart of Clonmel town. Thank you, Deputy. Minister. Deputy, you're right when you say that we need to invest in our water supply. That's absolutely crucial. And the examples that you've given here of water shortages and of water outages really reinforce that. Both our water and our wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles. And that's to bring systems up to the quality and to the resilience standards required of a modern service to provide for population growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change. The Department of Local Government secured record investment when it comes to water services for Ishka Aaron in the period of 2021 to 2025, with commitments of almost €6 billion in capital investment, which over €4.5 billion will be voted exchequer funding for domestic water services. And this commitment is reflected in this year's budget as well, with the Department securing record funding of over €2.2 billion and included in that is €514 million in terms of the billion equity investment. And that's all about giving Ishka Aaron the ability and the investment to be able to meet the cost of delivering water services this year. What's really important, I suppose, for your constituents in Clonmel to know is that this overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services. It'll support deputy improved water supplies right across Ireland, including rural Ireland, including Dipperary, and it'll support a range of programmes delivering improved water services in our rivers, in our lakes, in our marine areas. It's going to make a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs. And Ishka Aaron, as we both acknowledged, has a dedicated team to deal with representations. And I'll absolutely provide your feedback to the two relevant ministers, and I hope that you'll engage with them on this and to outline the concerns of your constituents and also the businesses in your area. But as I've said, I'll absolutely take that feedback back to the Minister of Relevance.