Funding granted in 2002 for Galway water upgrade

Funding has been available to Galway City Council for the past five years to upgrade its water supply system but the Department of the Environment is still waiting for the council's formal proposals, the Minister, Dick Roche, told the Dáil.

During a special notice debate last night on the contamination of Galway's water supplies, Mr Roche said €21.5 million in funding had been announced in 2002 and this had got significant local media coverage.

Mr Roche said: "I don't want to get into a blame game", but other local authorities had made proposals and "drawn the money down" for their schemes. He added that "local government has very limited responsibilities and should exercise them to the full and not pass the buck".

The Minister and senior officials will travel to Galway today to put in place measures to provide an interim supply "in the shortest possible time". Householders have to boil water to ensure its safety.

"It is simply not acceptable that 90,000 people in Galway are in the position they are in," he said.

Mr Roche insisted that it was time for the council to "stop acting the fool", and, "I want to dispute categorically any question that it is a departmental problem."

Michael D Higgins (Lab, Galway West) suggested that perhaps "part of the lethargy in applying for funding" might be that the council had been anticipating that a public-private scheme would be introduced.

"There is a problem about trust," he added. Mr Higgins called on the Minister to make sure the city council made public the information about the number, frequency and date of the tests carried out on the water supply.

The Labour deputy said it had been suggested that part of the problem was due to a lack of technical staff in the local authority and asked if the Minister would allow recruitment if this was the case.

But Mr Roche said the staffing issue was "a canard which has been introduced to deflect from the problem".

He said the important issue was to get clean water supplies restored and afterwards to look at the reasons why the problem arose in the first place.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said it was time to introduce the Water Services Bill before the general election. It would give an inspectorate greater powers and include more regulation for group water schemes. The Minister said he would push the Bill through with the co-operation of the Opposition.

Paddy McHugh (Ind, Galway East) said the problems were a countywide issue and not just in the city. He said leadership was needed and he told the Minister that "the buck stop with you. The local authority is under your control and you are responsible. It is a serious emergency situation."

Mr Roche said it was the responsibility of whoever was in office to tell the people the truth. "If money is available and has not been drawn down, the people have to be told."