2026-06-18

I thank the Minister of State for taking Topical Issues again - two days in a row. I must be following him around. It is appreciated. I wish to raise a matter today, similar to the previous speaker, around the growing concerns for families in Lusk, in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West. Repeated water outages have taken place for the past couple of weeks affecting two estates, in particular Kelly Park and Dun Emer. From the outset, I want to be clear. I am not denying that maintenance and upgrade work to our infrastructure is not essential. Some of these pipes are 50 or 60 years old, so the fact that they are being done is to be welcomed. We all want reliable and resilient water infrastructure and investment in that infrastructure is welcome. However, serious questions must be asked as to how these works are being scheduled and the impact they are having on local families, childcare providers and businesses. Councillor Mark Boland and I have been inundated by a number of businesses in Lusk over the past couple of weeks, including two early years education providers. Between them, they provide care for up to 100 families. Under the Tusla regulations, these providers must have access to running water in order to operate safely and legally. They are full-day services so they cannot use just what they have in the tank. It is not that they are early childhood care and education, ECCE, or national childcare scheme, NCS, services. When the water supply is interrupted, they simply cannot open their doors. The consequences are significant. Parents are left scrambling at short notice to find alternative childcare arrangements. Many have no choice but to take annual leave from work. Others lose a day's wages. Meanwhile, they continue to pay their regular childcare fees and taxes that fund Government subsidies to support these providers. They are forced to pay a third time when they are looking for alternative childcare. This is not a minor inconvenience; it places real financial pressure on working families who are already dealing with the rising cost of living. My question is straightforward. Why are these planned outages repeatedly taking place during normal working hours on weekdays? If they are scheduled and planned works, surely every effort should be made to minimise disruption to families and businesses. Have any alternatives been considered? Can these works be scheduled in the evenings, overnight and at weekends when the impact on early education and school-age childcare providers, schools, businesses and working parents would be substantially reduced? The people of Lusk understand the need for infrastructure works. What we are asking for is consideration, communication and common sense in regard to how these works are carried out. Therefore, I am calling on Uisce Éireann and the Minister of State to review the schedule around planned water outages and engage directly with affected communities to ensure that essential works can proceed while minimising disruption to families, childcare providers and local businesses.

I thank the Deputy. These are operational matters for Uisce Éireann but we have been making inquiries in relation to the issues the Deputy raised. I have been informed that works in Lusk have been undertaken between the junction to Hand's Lane and Minister's Road, along Minister's Road and Barrack Lane to the junction at Treen Hill and then Kelly Park. This is a targeted programme of works to strengthen the local water network at Kelly Park and Dun Emer in Lusk to replace old and fragile water mains. These works include laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers' property boundaries and connecting it to the customers' water supply. The project began back in March and work is expected to be completed this summer. Uisce Éireann tells us that very effort has been made to minimise disruption to residents and businesses during these works. Planned supply interruptions have been short in duration. However, the discovery of an undocumented branch off the water main led to unexpected interruptions. Further investigations are now required to map older sections of the network so that redundant sections of pipes can be closed off completely. Customers have been notified about this unavoidable disruption, which is essential to help Uisce Éireann to complete this important work to provide a more reliable and resilient water supply in the area. A contractor liaison officer is now in regular contact with the early years services, including visiting the business on Monday in advance of a planned interruption today, Thursday. An Uisce Éireann area inspector has also been in contact with the business and understands that limited storage is available on site. Uisce Éireann is offering the crèche owner the services of its first fix free scheme to establish if there is any leakage on the premises which may be affecting its storage capacity. The Kelly Park and Dun Emer areas are residential areas and it would not be possible to schedule future outages in the evenings or overnight. There are three more outages required to close out the project and Uisce Éireann is working to put in place a detailed programme which can then be communicated to key stakeholders to give more advance notice than normal. In regard to the correspondence we had on getting this question, the most frustrating piece is that where there are works going on, the communities do not know in advance. It can lead to huge frustration. I will take that back as well. There is no way that I can come in here and defend the lack of communication, which is basic. I will ask Uisce Éireann to look at other areas that could be looked at in respect of minimising the disruption, particularly to young people and young families.

I thank the Minister of State. I have seen the reference to undocumented branches. If pipes were put in 50 or 60 years ago, the mapping may not have been as good as it is today. I accept and understand that. I welcome that Uisce Éireann is engaging with the businesses but if it could speak to the two crèche owners in particular, it would certainly alleviate some of the frustrations felt by the residents in the local area. I get that there is no ideal solution here but, as the Minister of State mentioned, what families are looking for is to minimise the disruption as much as possible, to alleviate the stress on working families and for Uisce Éireann to engage with the local communities and crèches as much as possible. Before I finish up, I wish to welcome my former French teacher, Mr. Robin Gallagher, to the Gallery, and my ex-colleague in St. Joseph's Secondary School, the German teacher, Ms Anita Irwin, who is a big supporter of Europe Day every year. Like myself, she is probably looking forward to the EU Presidency.

It is great to see Deputies welcoming their former teachers to the Gallery. They are very welcome and I hope they are enjoying their trip to Leinster House today. The investment is being put in to upgrade the pipe network. A lot of investigation has gone into the pipe network in this area, which is 50, 60 or possibly more years old. In a lot of the upgrading, particularly in urban Ireland, when Uisce Éireann digs down, it finds there are offshoots here and there. Then it finds that is where the leak is and why there was no water pressure. There has been unscheduled work here. As I understand it, Uisce Éireann had communicated what it was doing and the timeframe it was doing it in. Now with the extra unscheduled work, there are more difficulties but I will relay back to it what the Deputy has asked with regard to the crèche owners in particular. I will ensure there is full engagement with all the community. While Uisce Éireann is doing a major job in the area, it is important it would engage with all the businesses and householders in terms of leak reduction or anything else. Uisce Éireann is on site now and it should be using that time, fundamentally, to make sure the right things are done and we do not have to go back to it in the future. There was an added piece here and not just the original piece. However, families have had to make decisions on whether to take time off or take annual leave to take care of their children. That is hugely frustrating and it is not acceptable. As a matter of policy, Uisce Éireann, where disruptions are taking place, should always consider childcare facilities and schools to make sure they are communicated with in timely manner.