I thank Deputy Collins for initiating this debate. He has pushed hard for it over the past number of weeks in the Business Committee. A number of things about Uisce Éireann need to change and change utterly. One is the culture of the organisation, which has shifted hugely in the past four years, and I will outline two examples to illustrate that. One relates to my constituency and the Swords wastewater treatment plant. There have been a number of major issues which have affected many residents. In late 2024, I requested a site visit at the wastewater treatment plant with the management of the plant, local authority workers and key people from the community. I received a response three months later stating that Uisce Éireann does not do site visits. That is absolute nonsense. How do I know? I know because it carried out such visits with me in that wastewater treatment plan in previous years. What has changed? In Knocksedan Demesne, an estate in Swords where a new phase is being built, we cannot get the houses connected. I contacted Uisce Éireann on 21 March 2025 and did not receive a full answer until 30 October 2025 to a question regarding new houses being connected, which is apparently a key priority of the Government. The issue has still not been resolved as of 14 January 2026. I received a response in October because there are good people in Uisce Éireann who are trying to work hard and resolve issues, but the culture has shifted to a point where it is not meeting the needs of the citizen. Regarding culture, can we listen to local authority water services workers who have the expertise on the ground? Uisce Éireann is not doing that. I have a list of issues where local authorities have identified a problem and Uisce Éireann has said they are wrong and it is not that problem but instead another one which cannot be resolved. A large multinational stakeholder is saying something else. When we get to the root of the issue, and spend lots of time and waste lots of energy, it turns out the local authority worker with expertise has been right every single time. We need to listen to the council workers who have the expertise, change the culture in Uisce Éireann and make it accountable to the Irish citizen and taxpayer and this House.

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