Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

We are told time and time again by this Government that water services have been improving, that everything is now under control and that Uisce Éireann is fit for purpose. In fact, Uisce Éireann is so content with the job it is doing that it gave €21,000 in bonuses for good performances, no less, in 2024 to hundreds of its highest paid executives, some already earning over €200,000 a year. If Uisce Éireann or indeed the Minister or Minister of State were to come to County Donegal, they would see the reality of a litany of failure and a total lack of accountability. In particular, they should come to Glenfin. I invite the Minister and Minister of State, in particular, to come to Glenfin. It is a beautiful area of Donegal, but the issue there is that there is no running water for the households. There are 40 households there, including families, elderly people and children, and they have no running water at all. They rely on wells to bring water to their homes. There is no public water in that community. That is 40 homes left without basic public services in 2026, despite me repeatedly raising it here in the Dáil with the Minister, the Minister of State and with Irish Water-Uisce Éireann over the years. It is a scandal.
If we look at our island communities, and I raised this point last week, they are treated as second-class citizens. The water quality on Arranmore and on Tory Island is regularly extremely poor. On the island of Gabhla, off the coast of Donegal from my own community of Gaoth Dobhair, there is no running water at all. The pipe burst six months ago. The Minister knows about this. I spoke to him about it and to the Minister for the Gaeltacht. I wrote to both of them over six months ago, and still there are no plans - nothing, nada, zilch. There is no idea and no timeframe for when water will be restored to that community. I took the State to court, through the European courts, as a result of its failure in the Gaoth Dobhair sewage scheme. It connected 50 houses, and then it said there were no plans to do the rest of the scheme. It is simply unacceptable.
Social housing, private housing, businesses and hotels cannot progress as a result of Uisce Éireann saying it does not have a timeframe for it. It is a complete lack of accountability. It is not acceptable in this day and age. I invite the Minister and the Minister of State to come to Donegal, to go to Glenfin, to go out to Gabhla to talk to the people in that area who rely on the tourism product there, and to come to Gaoth Dobhair and look at the projects that are stalled because Uisce Éireann is not making the investment in rural areas. It is time this ended. We need accountability and investment in rural areas and basic infrastructure in the year of 2026.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21