Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Ryan O'Meara (FF), Tipperary North

I will start with accountability in Irish Water. As the Minister knows, Members of the House have the right to ask parliamentary questions to various Ministers, including to him.
If I want to help someone with a driving test, I can write a parliamentary question to the Minister for Transport, and he will refer it to the RSA. With regard to health, if I am trying to help someone on a waiting list for cataracts, I can write a parliamentary question for the Minister for Health, and she will refer it to the HSE. When I write a parliamentary question to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage asking about Irish Water and when it is going to invest in a certain plant or when it is going to do certain works, I get an answer back from the Ceann Comhairle's office saying that under Standing Order 44, this is not a matter for the Minister to respond to and that it is a matter for Uisce Éireann and that I can email Uisce Éireann at oireachtasmembers@water.ie.
I am not going to get into that representative's email address today because I do not have the time and, to be honest, my blood pressure cannot deal with trying to explain just how frustrating that is. However, as a Member of this House I am entitled to answers, and I cannot get them. That is not the Minister's fault. It is not because he is not refusing to answer and the Ceann Comhairle is not preventing him from answering it, but it is the way Irish Water was established. It will not answer parliamentary questions. Those who established Irish Water in that Government and those who held those positions should answer why that is the case and why I cannot hold them to account.
If I want to ask about water outages in Rathcabbin or previously if I wanted to ask about Gortnahoe, Glengoole or Ballysloe, I will be told Irish Water will not answer a parliamentary question or the Minister cannot answer one through Irish Water. If I want to ask about the wastewater treatment plants in Cloughjordan or Ballycommon, Irish Water cannot answer a parliamentary question on it. If I want to ask how much money Irish Water has spent trucking sewage out of Ballycommon and into another plant because the plant there does not work, I cannot get that answer either. As a Member of Dáil Éireann sent here by the people of Tipperary North and north-west Kilkenny that is absolutely ridiculous. When asking for updates on the very welcome €50 million being spent in Nenagh at the moment on a wastewater treatment plant, I cannot get a parliamentary question response. I avoid writing to Irish Water as often as I can and try to find another avenue because of the absolute shambolic answers we get back from the Oireachtas Members email address time and time again.
By 2030, this Government is going to have spent €12.2 billion on water and wastewater infrastructure in this country. That is phenomenal, historic and unprecedented, and it is fantastic, but if I want to submit a parliamentary question asking for accountability, I cannot get an answer to it. I want accountability in this House. The people who put me here want accountability in this House and I should be able to expect and, indeed, demand parliamentary question responses from Irish Water. That Standing Order needs to change for the functioning of democracy in this country.

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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