2026-06-18

I realise this is the third Topical Issue out of five relating to Irish Water. I cannot say I am surprised, although they are different issues. I feel obliged to come here this evening to relay the concerns of the residents of Courtbrack, outside Blarney. There is an issue happening with their water supply for some time. I have all of the emails here from Irish Water. There are pages and pages of them and it thanks me for my representation and hopes it has provided clarity and answered all the queries of the residents. Nothing could be further from the truth . Somewhere, buried beneath all of those pages, there are little bits of information. The reality here is people want to know when they will have a safe drinking water supply at home. I know the Minister of State will be familiar with Courtbrack. People are spending €400,000 and €500,000 on new houses. They do not really have broadband. It is improving but it is still behind where it should be. You cannot get a phone signal except via the Internet, so it is a chicken-and-egg situation. There is light at the end of the tunnel with that because they have been told broadband will be provided by a certain period of time. They have absolutely no faith whatsoever in the service provision from Irish Water or when they will have a safe drinking water supply. They have been on a boil water notice for some time. I know the Minister of State will tell me in his response that it predates Irish Water and it inherited this. The key question I have is why in Christ's name did Irish Water take charge of this when it knew - I have it here in the various emails - the water plant was problematic? It is said it is below par and the conditions they would set. I do not understand why they would take charge of it and not compel the developer at the time to stump up before they took charge of it to improve the facility that was there. That is one thing I would like answered. I know the Minister of State probably does not have that answer. I know the Minister of State has responsibility for special education and, God love him, he is in here answering questions about water. I know the statutory responsibility for the provision of water, be it operational, infrastructure or servicing, lies with Uisce Éireann and not with the Minister himself. I am not the first person to come in here cribbing about the quality of water or the conduct of Irish Water but there is a statutory obligation on it to provide water. If it is not meeting its statutory obligations, it is incumbent on the Minister to intervene. That is not just in the case of Courtbrack - it is in dozens and dozens of locations across the country. I do not want to be parochial about it but in my own constituency, the wastewater situation in Carrignavar sees raw sewage seeping into the river. It is three times overloaded. We were told it would be seven to ten years, at best, before it gets an upgrade. There are big HGV lorries and tankers going through a new housing estate in Whitechurch just to service the existing requirement. Guess what? We will zone more land in the next development plan for more houses without having an adequate water supply in Whitechurch. Knockraha is an old chestnut of mine and is in my parish. I am totally despondent at this stage because it is happening for 15 years. Raw sewage is being pumped into a nearby landowner's field. Whether Irish Water likes it or not, it has a statutory responsibility. It is failing to adhere to that. If the State does not do it, I encourage people up and down the country to meet Irish Water in the courts and make sure it is responsible for enforcing that statutory obligation it has. I am sorry for the rant since the Minister of State has responsibility for special education but I get that he gets this frustration as well and not just from my part of the country.

I thank the Deputy. Three out of five of the Topical Issues have been about Irish Water. I know the Deputy has been talking about Courtbrack and other communities in his constituency for quite some time. In the correspondence we had in the past half hour or so, it covered three constituencies in Kildare, Dublin and Cork, so we can see the frustration of Members about Irish Water, the challenges that are being faced and how we will overcome them. Fundamentally, the availability of water and wastewater treatment plants is one of the most important resources we have to be able to develop further into the future. Over many decades, we have seen as a country the challenges with economic prosperity, but this is one of the key things. I am deviating from the question I was asked but I see the frustration of Members here today and the frustration of Members from across the country. I could turn back and talk about a number of communities I represent and the frustrations I have with it. Irish Water is the statutory body. It has taken charge of this plant. As I understand it, the plant was taken over in January of this year and it was not fit for purpose. It was one of those developer-provided pieces of infrastructure going back a number of years. It is important that we understand the challenges that are there. They are on a boil water notice and the information I have is that, since taking over the operation, Uisce Éireann has been carrying out technical and detailed operational assessments of the plant to determine the works required to ensure a safe and secure water supply to enable the boil water notice to be lifted. Uisce Éireann has now completed the initial scoping work and the first phase of remedial works has now commenced on site. These works are focused on upgrading and improving the existing plant. Uisce Éireann expects to have greater clarity on timelines as these works progress. Once the outcome of this first phase of the remedial works is fully assessed, the impact will inform the need for any subsequent phases of work, if required, which will ultimately guide the approach to resolving the issues at the plant. Given the importance of protecting public health, this process must be thorough and evidence-based. In parallel to these shorter-term improvement works, Uisce Éireann is also progressing the assessment of a longer term rationalisation option. This would provide a more permanent solution but is subject to all necessary planning, environmental and regulatory consenting processes. If the short-term works successfully address the issues at the plant, the need for this longer term project will be reviewed. The boil water notice remains in place and will continue until such time as it is safe to lift, based on the outcomes of the ongoing works. The assessment that Uisce Éireann is doing should be completed in a timely fashion so that we can move forward with confidence that the boil water notice can be lifted. There is a bigger issue with it as well. Even if the short-term issues are resolved, Uisce Éireann should not forget about the long-term issues either. I will relay the Deputy's frustration to both the Department and Uisce Éireann again and ask them to complete the remedial work in as short a timeframe as possible.

I thank the Minister of State. That is more or less the same answer I got in all of these emails so it is not surprising. The Minister of State knows the score and I know the score. Most people here know the standard of responses we get from Irish Water. I do not think it is too much to ask on behalf of residents, especially if the Minister will make representations on this and I will talk to him myself about it, what specific remedial works are being referenced? The Minister of State read in the answer that Irish Water will carry out remedial works. Tell us what they are. Will it screen the water? Will it add more chemicals? Will it fix pipes? Will it lay new pipes? Is there a problem with manganese, like there is in other parts of the city? Tell us what specific interventions it is making because I received that broad strokes answer of it doing remedial works and scoping. but it is not telling us the fine detail of what it is doing, bit by bit. Irish Water is saying there are remedial works currently under way. Tell us when they will be done. When will we have a timeline for when that initial phase will be done? From what Irish Water is saying, it will see how successful the short-term interventions are. Depending on the degree of success, it might do another longer term intervention. Tell us what that is as well. Tell us what the criteria is. Tell us the standard. Tell us what the threshold is for making that decision. Most fundamentally, Courtbrack is a lovely rural village to live. A lot of people have moved out there from the city in particular. They spent a lot of money on their houses. I have already outlined the deficit in services, but at the same time it is not too much to ask that the residents get direct updates from Irish Water. They are coming to representatives like me to get updates or they are approaching fellas as they see them who are doing these remedial works and they are getting little tidbits information when they need something. If you are without water for the best part of a year, the very least that Irish Water should be doing for those people is giving them clear information. My final point is about the statutory requirement. This is happening in hundreds of locations across the country. Whether they like it or not, or whether they were handed a mess or not, they have a statutory obligation and a need to come clean with that and to give people what they are entitled to, which is safe drinking water.

I thank the Deputy. He has heard all the official answers in relation to what is being done. What he needs to do is to have clear sight of what that is, what that means in simple English, what screening and what work is going on, what levels they have to reach, and what stage they are at. I will endeavour to get sight of the remedial works Uisce Éireann is doing and also what they are considering in the long term. Whatever about the remedial works that are to be done here, the long-term issues have to be put out as well for Courtbrack and all those communities. Irish Water is engaging now with the Courtbrack community and it should not be allowed take its sight off it. It should complete the work it is doing on the remedial work in getting the water fit to lift the boiled-water notice and then on top of that to come back and say what the project will be over the next while. It should not just long-finger it but make sure what it is in the short-term. The least we want is to have the water systems fit for purpose. I will endeavour to ask both the Department and Uisce Éireann for concise, direct and informative information in relation to what they are doing in Courtbrack, what the timelines are on it and when they hope they can reach those targets and timelines. I will endeavour to get that information for the Deputy from the Department and Uisce Éireann and forward it to him.