Water: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Barry Heneghan (IND), Dublin Bay North

Bhí mé ag éisteacht le gach duine sa Teach seo. Táim i gcónaí ag tabhairt amach le daoine atá sa Civil Service. Sometimes it is warranted. I heard Deputy Ó Murchú mention that sometimes you do get that rare gem. I thank Keith Conmy from Uisce Éireann for all that the work he helped me with for the residents of Mask Avenue. We give out enough about civil servants. It is only fair to we clap for them when they do their job. He was sending me updates at 11.30 p.m., constantly keeping residents informed. That is the kind of civil servant I would love to see across the board in all of our Departments, but it is not there sometimes. When it comes to bonuses, I heard people giving out and it is fair enough. If there were targeted bonuses for people, he deserves one. I hope he got one. If civil servants in Uisce Éireann and the ESB had clear targets, it would be understandable for them to get bonuses. They are being given bonuses for clear water when that is what they do. If they had clear targets on how many emails or reps they are doing, that would be beneficial.
To be clear, when we talk about Uisce Éireann, I have given out about Dublin Bay and people literally swimming in human waste. I have given out about the current flood defence. Sometimes there is not joined-up thinking when it comes to Uisce Éireann and active travel. Roads have had cycleways put in and then been torn up a month later to put in a pipe. There needs to be a bit more communication in that sense. Speaking of communication, I know - and I have heard other Deputies from north Dublin speak about this - that we are going to have a pipe along the promenade at Clontarf seafront, one of the great amenities of north Dublin. It would be great for the flood defence to be done at the same time while the plant hire is down there. It makes no sense to dig up the whole thing, put in traffic restrictions and disrupt the entire of north Dublin and then six months later put in a flood defence. It should be done at the same time. There needs to be practical, logical thinking.
I was endorsed by Seán Dublin Bay Loftus, a former Independent TD. When he was running for this House, he was trying to save Dublin Bay. Now, Dublin Bay still needs protection. We see oysters are being introduced at Howth. I would love to see some at the entrance where the River Tolka goes into the bay. They are natural filters. There is a clear issue with water pollution. Sometimes there are e. coli levels of 3,000 parts per million in Dublin Bay. That is six times the safe amount. That is not six times what should be there. People are getting ear infections and going to the doctor for swimming, getting out and socialising. That needs to be looked at.
I hear Deputy Ó Muirí discuss the Shannon to Dublin project. I am delighted to see how much it would be doing. I heard Deputy Gogarty talk about me with private wires and energy. I will not go into that. We are discussing Uisce Éireann. Water infrastructure and housing need to go hand in hand. I am delighted to see the great work of the engineers on the Shannon project.

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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