Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

I thank the Deputy. While I do not have the specific details of the case he outlined, I will bring this and all of the challenges he outlined directly back to the relevant Minister. Unfortunately, we still have a number of communities that are impacted by water infrastructure, much of which is decades old. It is important that the Government ensures that the significant amount of funding we have put directly into Irish Water is invested in communities and spent as quickly as possible and that the upgrades to our water facilities, treatment plants, piping and infrastructure that is decades old happen as quickly as possible.
From July of this year, Uisce Éireann marked a commitment to invest in the reimagined water infrastructure right across Tipperary, the Deputy's county. There was a €16 million upgrade in the Rossadrehid water treatment plant, the construction of which is now under way and will provide a safer, more reliable water supply for homes and businesses right across the region, originating in the Galtee Mountains. It is obviously an important source of water for the plant and it provides services to thousands of homes and businesses across the region.
This is about making sure every part of the county has access to that type of supply of water. It is about making sure the investment and significant funding that have been provided by the Government, through the national development plan and directly to Uisce Éireann, is invested as quickly as possible and people see the benefit. One of the biggest challenges we have, and I see this in my county as well, is that our population has grown very significantly in a short space of time. It is about making sure we can keep up with that growth, keep up with the delivery of houses and make sure that, at the same time, we are not just investing in new infrastructure but also replacing old and outdated infrastructure, in particular.
The specific issue the Deputy raised is one that many people deal with in their communities. There is then the impact it has on their appliances, which means they have to change them or invest in softeners. That is a frustration and something people do not need to deal with. That is why we are investing this significant amount of funding overall. On the specific cases the Deputy mentioned, I am happy to bring them back to the Minister to see if more can be done to speed up the process and address the concerns raised by the Deputy's constituents.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17