Water: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ Ken O'Flynn (II), Cork North-Central As every Deputy knows, if we put down a question in this House about Irish Water now, we will get a message back from the Ceann Comhairle's office telling us we are not entitled to an answer. Who, then, is responsible for Irish Water? Does the buck stop with the Minister or a State body? That is the first question that needs to be addressed in this House, and it needs to be sorted because somebody needs to take charge of Irish Water. I want to touch on the magnesium problem in Irish Water that the EPA and the WHO have highlighted. There is poisonous water, drinking water, in Cork city at the moment, with nobody being held accountable for it. The Minister is not investigating it and we are waiting for long-winded replies from the EPA. I have to be honest with the Minister of State. If any private chemical company in west Cork or Ringaskiddy or anywhere that direction were to carry out that type of work, there would be chief executives in the criminal courts. That is what would happen and that it is not happening. How people are not being held responsible in Irish Water for not telling the public about poisoned Irish water, poisoned drinking water, in our city is totally unacceptable. The Minister addressed the river basins. The Government is an absolute disgrace when it comes to the River Blackwater. It has found nobody responsible for the River Blackwater and the killing of 2,000 fish and it has let it go away and forgotten about it but the people of Mallow have not forgotten about it. The people of Mallow who are dealing every day with hard water and having to replace units, kettles, showers and everything else in their homes on a regular basis or having to spend €1,000 to €2,000 on water softeners have not forgotten it. The people with no infrastructure in Cork North-Central have not forgotten about it. We have been told straight out that we need a €1 billion investment on the north side of Cork. By God, if this were in the Taoiseach's area on the south side of Cork, the €1 billion would be found for it but it is not being found for Cork North-Central. That is an absolute disgrace, and the Minister of State sits there jerking his shoulders saying, "What can we do about it? Tough luck, lads. The buck does not stop with the Minister any more." I find it unbelievable that we are having this conversation day in, day out. We in Independent Ireland have brought this up in the House and we are doing so again. Everyone from every side of the House is saying the same thing: Irish Water is not fit for purpose. At least you had a city manager or a county manager to go to at one stage to talk about what was going on in water infrastructure and you got replies. Now you get an email address and are asked, "Can you provide me with your details?" and ten days later you might get a response. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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