Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Maurice Quinlivan (SF), Limerick City

The announcement earlier this week by the Minister that the Bunlicky wastewater treatment plant is to be upgraded with construction commencing in 2028 is very welcome news. The population of Limerick and its surrounds is increasing at a very fast rate and this upgrade should help, should the Government deliver on its planned housing targets. While based on the performance in previous years, I doubt it can deliver the projected housing targets, preparatory work like this is to be welcomed. We remain in a very difficult situation when it comes to water infrastructure across Ireland.
In July last year, the Committee on Budgetary Oversight stated the water infrastructure deficit is limiting the supply of housing and other infrastructure. Significant issues remain from the so-called Celtic tiger period, with significant leakage remaining in our infrastructure and I fear there is not sufficient funding to local authorities and Uisce Éireann to address this.
When there are deficits in water infrastructure often houses cannot be developed, homes cannot be built, businesses cannot expand, and environmental protections are often compromised. Uisce Éireann is trying to address the issues of leakage through the national leakage reduction plan. It has completed works in areas of Limerick to address some of the leakage and, again, this is to be welcomed. It is high time, however, that these leaks and wastage be addressed properly.
I regret that its level of communication both with elected Members and the general public can be absolutely appalling. The public are resilient; they can handle interruptions to the supply once they are kept informed of developments, but this simply does not happen with Uisce Éireann. In December 2025, areas of Limerick were left without access to water for six days. The Irish Water text alert system notified people of the outage, but what is frustrating is that the system and the email correspondence offered no information whatsoever to customers as to when the outage would finish.
Families and businesses rely on accurate information so they can plan for necessary interruptions to the water supply. In some instances, the failure of communication is even more profound, in particular when it comes to boil notices. In May last year, boil notices were issued in areas of Limerick city, including Moyross, Corbally and the Mill Road. However, if people visited the Uisce Éireann website at the time and entered their eircode from another part of the city, they were told a boil notice was in operation across the whole city, but there was not. The maps, press notices and website offered contrary information to each other. This led to utter confusion across Limerick for most of the day and stress and concern for thousands of residents who thought they had to boil their water when they did not. I received reports of supermarkets running out of bottled water. The excuses offered at the time, which included a computer glitch, are simply not acceptable. As an elected Member for Limerick, if I contact Irish Water about an issue, there is a failure to adequately respond. That needs to be addressed. This is simply not good enough.

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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