Water Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Aidan Farrelly (SD), Kildare North

I thank the Minister of State for that response. Even in Kildare, you can see the impact of that funding. You can see the works happening from a capital perspective, whether it is roadworks or significant works that are happening to unlock that residential development within the county. The problem is we are midway through that in Kildare and I wonder whether the capacity is increasing at reservoir level. That is a concern for me as a wider piece. The Minister of State might come back in on that.
The bit that irks me a little, if I am honest, is that I am genuinely curious as to the nature of the relationship between the Department and the body itself. How involved is the Minister or how involved can he be, when we heard at the Committee of Public Accounts that nearly 94% of Uisce Éireann staff got their full bonuses in 2024? That smacks in the face people in Leixlip, for example, who have been noting, in 2026, unplanned outages in February and twice in April; and in 2025, in January, March, twice in May, twice in July and December. When these outages happen, the staff on the ground are phenomenal at trying to minimise the impact on communities but there is something wrong at the core if this is continuously going to happen. As I said, the news a couple of months ago was that they might have to flood our community because the reservoir levels were too high and then, a couple of weeks later with a little sunshine, that water is gone and they have to turn our taps off.
At this point, I offer my full support for greater oversight and greater communication networks between public representatives, the body and the Department. I welcome the billions of euro for infrastructure, which is more than needed, but what happens after that if the capacity remains a problem?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28