Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Overall sentiment: -0.06
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I have two minutes, so I will make three quick points to the Minister but I want to make the general point that when we are talking about water, we should take stock of the picture internationally because there are so many examples of situations where privatisation has led to absolute chaos. We have seen this very clearly in relation to Thames Water. I know that privatisation is not on the agenda but people in Ireland had a lot of concern that the infrastructure for that was being created. We should continue to monitor situations internationally where privatised water systems fail people. We should continue to absorb that into the way we approach water policy. First, on constraint and development. I hope Uisce Éireann officials are listening to this. There is increasingly an issue in Cork city where new developments could potentially come on stream but the inability for them to connect run-off or storm water to the foul drain is leading to potential refusals or refusals. That needs to be addressed because it is not sustainable and could hold back development. Second, I want to flag how, where estates are being completed, there are too often deficits in local authority approaches in terms of ensuring compliance. I can give an example of Gleann Órga in Ballinhassig in Cork where there have been ongoing issues with wastewater management. This was due to somebody who was in the position not having completed the work adequately, leaving residents with the consequences and the local authority not dealing with it adequately. That also needs to be addressed at local authority level. Finally, on the transfer to the new model, a lot of workers were very frustrated at how it was handled and felt the consultation was not adequate. However, even allowing for that, there was a missed opportunity in some local authorities. In Cork City Council, 70 water workers were being moved on. Only two of those went to housing in the middle of a housing crisis. That was not anywhere near good enough. It was a huge missed opportunity and a huge waste.

Sentiment score: -0.06