Along with Deputies Ó Broin, Guirke and Gould, Sinn Féin and I introduced the Water Services (Amendment) Bill last year with the specific aim of holding Uisce Éireann to account in cases of water outages and disruptions in supply. It is good legislation. The Government should enact it. It would mandate Uisce Éireann to have a dedicated response for vulnerable domestic and business customers, have a detailed communication plan for all customers, public representatives and local authorities, including two-hourly updates, provide emergency replacement water within agreed timeframes, and have short-, medium- and long-term plans to address problems. In Meath East, we need urgent investment in wastewater infrastructure in Kells, we need urgent investment in mains water infrastructure in Duleek and we desperately need urgent investment in mains water in Dunboyne. Residents in whole swathes of Dunboyne were without water over Christmas and the new year – no toilets, no showers, no washing machines, no dishwaters, no nothing. Communication with Uisce Éireann is disgraceful. It is completely unacceptable and the Minister needs to address it. The Sinn Féin legislation would help. When Uisce Éireann did answer in relation to Dunboyne, it said low pressure was due to increased demand. This screams about the need for critical infrastructure to be delivered with or before new housing development, of which there is a significant amount in Dunboyne, as the Minister knows. Uisce Éireann also said it has medium- and long-term fixes. That is welcome but it begs the question as to why these were not delivered before obvious problems arose. Uisce Éireann is infuriatingly casual and non-committal in relation to immediate fixes for Dunboyne. It has nothing to say in relation to interim supplies, additional pumping capacity or anything else. Like so much with Uisce Éireann, it is not good enough, it is unacceptable and it has to change. Sinn Féin and I will keep pushing until it does.

Sentiment score: -0.14