Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 September 2021
240. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extent to which any pollution of the water supply has affected the various towns throughout north County Kildare and south County Meath; the degree to which the causes of such pollution have been identified; the reason the public were not immediately alerted; if any danger continues to exist for consumers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45907/21]
View answerThe Ballymore Eustace Plant provides a water supply to the areas of Dublin City Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and North Kildare.
In a letter to my Department last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined two serious incidents in recent weeks that occurred in drinking water plants serving parts of Dublin City and surrounding areas (the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant) and in Gorey, Co. Wexford. This included, in the case of Gorey, illnesses detected by the HSE in the community served by that water supply.
It is important to note that these incidents have been rectified and the water supply from the two plants is now safe to drink.
In their letter, the EPA stated that an abject failure in management oversight, operational control and responsiveness at two public drinking water treatment plants had allowed unsafe water to enter into the public drinking water supply and endanger public health.
I find the failures identified by the EPA concerning and unacceptable – peoples’ safety is paramount. Our drinking water must be wholesome and clean and delivered by supply systems that are secure and reliable.
Following the receipt of the EPA’s letter, I met with the Managing Director of Irish Water as well as both the Chief Executives of Dublin City Council and Wexford County Council at the weekend. I have requested Irish Water to immediately undertake an audit of each water treatment plant across the country. Irish Water will prioritise the 20 largest water treatment plants, visiting each of them, to ensure that proper processes are in place in terms of dealing with and escalating any incidents which may arise. Irish Water’s Managing Director and the local authority Chief Executives each assured me of their full cooperation and that their organisations would be working together to put in place the urgent and necessary corrective measures.
Irish Water will also work with each local authority over the coming two weeks, conducting re-fresher training on incident reporting for all plants. Where appropriate, Irish Water will now put its own staff on site, to ensure the continued safety of water treatment plants. I have also requested that local authorities work with Irish Water to improve the linkages with the Irish Water National Water Control centre.
Ultimately, there are limitations to the current working arrangements between Irish Water and local authorities and it is impacting on the delivery of services. A process is underway in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to deliver the transformation of this service but I have also requested that Irish Water and local authorities to take further steps to improve Irish Water control of all water service plants in the immediate term pending the implementation of the agreed longer term operational and staffing arrangements. I will meet again with Irish Water and the local authorities in question on Monday, 04 October 2021.
