Mattie McGrath: Calls urgent Dáil debate on Irish Water crisis
Mattie McGrath spoke in the Dáil about multiple issues, centring on acute failures by Irish Water and a demand for an urgent parliamentary debate on the supply of water to people and farms. He also summarised the legal position on carriage of munitions through Irish airspace, addressed the timing of a Commission of Investigation, and reviewed housing and economic forecasts.
Water crisis and urgent debate
Mr McGrath said the situation with Irish Water is "just untenable" and called for an urgent debate in the House on the utility's inability to provide water to communities and farms. He described prolonged outages and poor engagement from senior management and engineers as key failures requiring immediate attention.
Local impacts and personal accounts
He listed localities suffering extended outages, citing Vallnairach, Kielcheelen, Killevin, Eve and Emily, and described a 90-year-old man in Kielcheelen drawing water with churns to tend cattle. He called the ongoing problem in the town of Canmel "appalling" and stressed the need for meaningful local engagement and practical solutions.
Airspace law and munitions carriage
Mr McGrath outlined the legal framework - the Air Navigation Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods Orders 1973 and 1989 - which prohibit civil aircraft from carrying munitions in Irish sovereign territory without a ministerial exemption. He said that in 2023 and to date in 2024 no applications or exemptions have been recorded and that the Department of Transport consults the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice on any such requests.
Commission of Investigation and victim engagement
On the Commission of Investigation, he acknowledged there is no specific timing available and stressed the importance of getting the process right for survivors. He said the government had empowered the relevant minister to take time to engage with survivors and that rushing the process would risk failing those affected. He also noted that the Minister for Health is consulting the Attorney General over publication of a report into a paedophile who had devastated many lives.
Economy, housing and parliamentary procedure
Mr McGrath defended recent economic performance against Central Bank forecasts, citing prior quarter-three predictions and delivered figures, and said the Government is on track to deliver up to 40,000 homes this year. He urged colleagues to use the Business Committee to schedule debates such as the Housing Commission report and criticised members who did not dissent at committee but later complained about the lack of a debate.
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I welcome your statement on the bike shed, and I understood from discussions at our business meeting that a party leader asked here for another bike shed he built in the front yard of the incident house, maybe we could get clarity on that. Teachta, the situation with Irish water is just untenable. This was an outfit set up by Minister Hogan and your government. I have situations, not over temporary, but especially in Vallnairach and Kielcheelen, in Killevin and Eve, in Emily, where they have no water for six weeks. A 90-year-old man in Kielcheelen drawing water with churns and balance to cattle. I mean it's primitive, it's disgraceful, and we can't get meetings with senior management, we can't get engagement, I do thank Canon Ferris for engaging with me, but we can get meetings with engineers, thinking around with problems, don't have information, won't meet the people, or won't engage with people who know the knowledge, their workers included. It's an untenable situation, and we need an urgent debate in this house about the inability of Irish water to cattle, to provide water to people and farms. The town of Canmel is an appalling situation. It's in a hollow, it should never be without water, but it's experiencing ongoing problems with water all the time. People have raised a number of issues here, which of course we are happy to consider how best to facilitate these issues through the Business Committee. In relation to the issue regarding the use of Irish airspace, to be clear, under Irish law, the air navigation carriage of munitions of war, weapons and dangerous goods orders 1973 and 1989, it is expressly prohibited for civil aircraft to carry munitions of war in Irish sovereign territory without being granted an exemption to do so by the Minister for Transport. In 2023 and to date in 2024, no applications have been received or exemptions granted for the carriage of munitions of war on civil aircraft to appoint in Israel. In considering any application for such an exemption in respect to munitions of war, the Department of Transport will consult with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice on applications to determine if there are foreign policy or security considerations. This is a robust process and as the Minister for Transport has said, no exemptions were requested and he is engaging with the company and I will ask him to update the House when he has information. But the position of government and the people of Ireland is very clear in relation to wanting an immediate ceasefire, the bloodshed and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza to end. In relation to Deputy Batchik, I think there are two very fair questions. Being very honest, I do not have a specific answer in terms of the timing in terms of the Commission of Investigation. That is not that we do not wish to move on this, we do with absolute vigour, but we want to get it right. Government has quite rightly empowered Minister Foley to take that time to engage with the survivors. Let us try and get this process right. I do believe the next step is really important. If we get the process wrong, I think we will have failed survivors, so we need to try and get that right. In relation to Shine, a vile paedophile who has destroyed the lives of many people in this country, be clear in relation to that. My colleague, the Minister for Health, is in consultation with the Attorney General in relation to the publication of the report. We are happy to keep the House updated in relation to that and potential next steps. Deputy O'Callaghan, the Central Bank of Ireland does very important work. I respect its forecasts, lots of people provide forecasts, but we have beaten their forecasts over the last two years. Just to be very clear, we are consistently beating their forecasts. In fact, in their quarter three bulletin last year, they forecast 30,000, we delivered 32,695. In their quarter three forecast the year before, they predicted 23,500 and we delivered 29,851. We are getting well used to beating forecasts, we will beat it this year as well. The Department of Housing and the Minister for Housing tell me we are on track to deliver up to 40,000 homes. That is what we want to get to this year. In relation to housing, I respect that there are consistent calls for a debate on the Housing Commission report and the likes. Government is happy to facilitate that, but we need to do that through the Business Committee. Welcome back lads, it is your first day back, so we will facilitate it. Not one of you thought this at the Business Committee. For those watching the theatrics at home, none of you dissented to the other business. Then you come in here and you go, why are we not having a debate on housing? Because you did not raise it. Please do that next week and we will endeavour to facilitate you. We will call a vote and you will be upset about the business, but none of you bothered dissenting at the meeting. Let's have a little bit of fairness and give and take care. Deputy McGrath, your commitment to investment in water services is something we share. Government is very keen that we want to do more in relation to water. I think Irish Water as a vehicle is delivering, but I do think investing more in its ability to deliver is something we want to look at. We have made clear our views around the potential to do that through a variety of once-off resources that may be available to the country. We have made clear our views. World of Voice estiver. Not linebackers at high point UH L bounce. 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