Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate – Dáil Éireann (34th Dáil) – Wednesday, 24 Sep 2025

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Cancer Services

Deputy Frankie Feighan

The radiotherapy bus, known as the "cancer bus", provides a daily service for patients travelling from Sligo to Galway University Hospital for radiotherapy treatment. The current bus is not fit for purpose as there is no wheelchair access and no toilet facility. Wheelchair access goes without saying, really. It is a bus providing a service for people who are ill and should surely have wheelchair access. Many patients require the urgent or frequent use of a toilet because of the nature of their illness. The bus has designated stops at service stations but sometimes a driver has no choice but to pull over on the side of the road.

There is clearly a huge lack of dignity for these people who are at their most vulnerable while undergoing cancer treatment. It is an unacceptable way to treat people in this day and age. I add that the radiotherapy bus is a fantastic service. I have spoken to many people who have used the bus and they cannot speak highly enough of the service and sense of camaraderie and support provided by their fellow patients while travelling to and back from Galway. However, the need for a new bus was brought up time and time again during last year's general election campaign. I was assured by both the HSE and the Minister that a new bus with wheelchair access and a toilet would be provided this year.

A working group was set up locally in March of this year to advance the purchase of a bus. However, we are still no further along. Every time I ring the stakeholders, they say they are working on it. Over the weeks and months, they have said it is imminent but no bus is here now. The current bus was secured back in 2011 through fundraising and is still funded by local charities. I thank them for their dedication and hard work on this. However, with the current cost of living many charities are finding it harder and harder to keep raising funds for vital services. Many people believe that if patients in the north west have to travel to Galway for treatment, the HSE should be providing the bus service. That is a simple and clear statement. It is time for the HSE and whoever else is involved to provide 100% funding or matched funding for this vital oncology service. I ask the Minister of State where the funding is for the new Sligo to Galway radiotherapy service and why there is such a delay in providing it.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Mary Butler)

I thank the Deputy for his question. He has raised a really important issue with what he calls the radiotherapy bus. He is right; local charities and local people who volunteer do phenomenal work. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill.

As the Deputy said, the bus was originally procured using one-off funding from the HSE in 2011, following on from the essential relocation of breast cancer services from Sligo to Galway. These services were relocated as part of a wider centralisation programme for cancer services. The centralisation of services is a key part of successive national cancer strategies, ensuring that expertise and resources are concentrated to provide the best possible service for patients, as this is known to have a direct benefit on patient outcomes. Since the original bus was recently retired from service, a local bus company has been providing interim transport for patients. The buses currently used, as the Deputy quite rightly said, are not wheelchair accessible and do not have toilet facilities on board. As the Deputy said, these are two components that are really important.

The Department of Health was informed in December 2024 that the HSE Community Health Organisation 1, CHO 1, as it was then, had committed to provide €100,000 towards the procurement of a new bus. The charity seeking the funding has raised €50,000 from its fundraising efforts. I believe that this amounts to over 80% of the funding required for the bus. The Department of Health recognises the significant additional burden that travelling long distances for cancer treatment can have. I reassure the Deputy that the Department is committed to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. In addition, the national cancer control programme collaborates and supports the "Travel2Care" initiative administered by the Irish Cancer Society. This transport programme is available to patients attending a designated cancer centre for cancer tests or treatment. I have also been informed that the HSE has advised that a new patient transport service also runs from Letterkenny University Hospital to Galway and commenced in August 2024. This bus is wheelchair accessible and while it does not have a toilet on board, the service facilitates comfort breaks along the route. I again take the Deputy's point that the comfort breaks might not always be at the appropriate time for a person who needs those supports.

The Department is committed to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. A total of €150,000 has been secured, including €50,000 from the fundraising efforts and well done to those involved in those efforts. An amount of €100,000 was secured from CHO 1, as it was previously known. It is now really important that the remainder of the funding, however much it is and whether it is €20,000 or €30,000, is found and the bus is up and running to provide supports for people who are very ill and going for radiotherapy treatment.

Deputy Frankie Feighan

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I am happy that more than 80% of the funding required for the bus has been secured. I thank the local charity for raising €50,000 through fundraising efforts. This has gone on far too long. The Department is committing to ongoing engagement with the HSE and partners to find a solution that works for patients. This is going on for at least nine months. What has happened in the previous nine months has been nothing but passing the buck from one Department to the other when there is loads of money in this country.

These people - patients - deserve the best possible service in their time of need. I want to the Minister of State to go back to the Department and ensure that whoever is dealing with this bangs heads together and get a resolution as soon as possible. The people who contacted me have been very patient. I have been very patient. However, the patients who need this are putting up with a bus that is substandard. I thank the Minister of State for her reply and for coming in here today. If there is not a resolution for this in the next few weeks, we have to have a meeting with all the stakeholders, in Sligo or in Dublin, to get this situation resolved. It is simply not good enough. It is obvious that one Department is passing it on to the other, and the patients who absolutely need this vital service are going without it. I thank the Minister of State for her reply.

Deputy Mary Butler

I do not disagree with a word Deputy Feighan has said in relation to this. The fact is that we are almost there, but that is not good enough for anybody who is travelling today with regard to wheelchair accessibility and having a toilet on board for those travelling from Sligo to Galway. It is a long enough spin as it is, especially when they are going for a specific treatment to support their cancer journey. I will give the Deputy a commitment here on the floor that I will go back to the Department this morning and ask it to make contact with the old CHO 1, as we called it, to see whether a sensible approach can happen. Notwithstanding the fact that we are two weeks out from a budget, we would be hopeful that money might free up after the budget. I will give the Deputy that commitment, however. He has raised a really important item. It probably points to the question that there are ad hoc arrangements all over the country in relation to transportation for people with cancer who are availing of radiotherapy supports.

I also want to commend the community that raised €50,000. That is not easy to do, and well done to them. As I said, €150,000 is there now. I am not really sure how much a bus would cost, but if it is 80% of it, we are not too far off. Hopefully, a solution can be found very quickly. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.

Work Permits

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning to take the question. I want to discuss the delays businesses and employees are experiencing when applying for work permits, particularly permits for haulage companies. I am under no illusion as to the gravity of the situation. I understand there has been an unprecedented volume of applications for these permits over recent years. Nonetheless, there are significant problems. There is a particular problem in my constituency of Cork North-Central and in my neighbouring constituency of Cork East where most of the haulage businesses in the south are based.

I am regularly contacted by companies regarding delays in processing and accessing work permits for employees, particularly outside of the EU. There is already a shortage of haulage drivers, as we know. They were recently added to the critical skills list as a profession. The Irish Road Haulage Association warned earlier in the month of a severe driver shortage, which could impact the supply of goods across Ireland in the lead-up to Christmas. The association has been clear in its calls for urgent intervention to assist the sector.

I note that the Oireachtas transport committee recently cited three key concerns. One of those concerns is the barrier to international recruitment, including time-consuming administrative processes across multiple Government Departments for hiring qualified drivers. Speaking from my own experience in this regard, some of these applications have been going on in excess of 12 months. The Department, in response to parliamentary questions, will often cite that there is a lack of information or there is incorrect information on the application, but the turnaround time and the lag in between the processing of those various correspondences is very long and drawn out. A company that contacted me earlier can be used as an example. In early March 2024, it initially contacted me about a work permit issue, which was eventually resolved, but an issue then presented with visas, and they are still outstanding to this day. That is a year and a half. The process appears disjointed, likely due to the number of Departments involved. It is my understanding that a haulier could face a two-year wait to hire a driver from a non-EU country, consisting of five different Departments.

Surely it is well acknowledged right across the floor at this stage that between the visas and the work permits, something falls down in between. Regardless of whether it is the time lag I referred to earlier or a cross-departmental lag, it is contributing to the excessive waiting list problem we are experiencing. Surely somebody needs to look at how we can co-ordinate the Departments better to streamline this service to the benefit of everybody because we are crying out for these drivers. I do not think there is anybody in this Chamber who has not been approached by business people like couriers, hauliers and people in other professions. They are urgently seeking these drivers. Can the Minister of State confirm if he or his senior Minister have met cross-departmentally with the Departments of transport and justice to streamline the cross-departmental employment status of these employees? Can he also advise the steps that his Department is taking to address ongoing delays? Can he advise if he or his Department are engaged with the Irish Road Haulage Association?

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Noel Grealish)

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Burke, who could not be here this morning. I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of employment permit processing and its impact on businesses and prospective employees.

Ireland operates a managed, demand-led employment permits system under the Employment Permits Act 2024. This system supports our labour market by enabling non-EEA nationals to take up employment in sectors where genuine skills or labour shortages exist. It is underpinned by defined eligibility criteria and a statutory review mechanism for refused applications. The Department has made significant progress in recent years to improve the efficiency of the system in response to rising demand. In 2024, we issued a record 39,400 permits from 46,600 applications received. The launch of employment permits online, EPO, in April 2025 marked a major digital transformation, introducing a modern, cloud-based system that streamlines how permits are submitted, processed and tracked. As with any system transition, some short-term pressures have emerged. However, the Department continues to prioritise the timely processing of applications and remains focused on maintaining a high standard of service. Turnaround times remain well below the levels experienced during peak demand periods and compare favourably with international norms. The new system’s enhanced validation features are already helping to reduce refusals on technical grounds, and this in turn is expected to ease pressures on appeals. The Department has also allocated additional resources to ensure that initial applications are processed as efficiently as possible, while continuing to improve appeal timelines.

Appeals processing has seen increased volumes, particularly in the food and hospitality sector. Many of these relate to revised eligibility criteria for chef roles. The Department is actively working to reduce appeal wait times and expects improvements as the system stabilises. l am not aware of any specific delays in the processing of employment permits. However, in an operation of this scale, it is to be expected that applications will be at various stages of processing. Some may take longer due to additional checks or because they are subject to appeal, both of which are standard features of a robust and fair system. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment remains focused on ensuring the employment permits system is agile, fair and responsive to Ireland's evolving labour market.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

I thank the Minister of State. I know it is not his direct remit, and I appreciate him coming in and delivering the script, but there is very little information in relation to how many applications people are currently waiting for, and there is no information in relation to numbers waiting in excess of three, six and 12 months. I ask the Minister if State to bring that back in order that the information could be provided to us by way of supplementary information. It would paint a picture for us. I do not think it is endemic to my part of Cork. Deputy Eoghan Kenny is in north Cork, and I assume he is hearing the same. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could take that back to the officials to give us numbers of how many people are waiting and for certain periods of time be they in excess of six, 12, 18 months and so on.

The Minister of State said that any system needs to be agile. That goes without saying, but I am genuinely saying to him that from the cases I have been dealing with, the system is far from agile. We are talking about turnaround times of three months just to get an acknowledgement and a letter back. All being fair, if people submitted the correct information at the time of application, there might be no need for supplementary information and all that, and I take that as a given.

Nonetheless, the system is far from agile because, like any system, in particular an online system, there will be mistakes and errors, people ticking the wrong boxes or whatever. I do not think it is fair to describe the system as agile.

I would appreciate if the Minister of State could make available the numbers I have requested. The reply states the Department is working actively to reduce appeal wait times, but it has provided nothing in terms of statistics or facts. Rather, it is about broad strokes such as a reference to reduce appeal wait times. The very least I would expect from an answer is for the Minister of State to say the Department has reduced appeal wait times by 20% in the past year and by 40% over the past three years. Again, the answer is lacking detail. I would appreciate if the Minister of the State could take my comments back to the Minister.

Deputy Noel Grealish

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. I am taking this Topical Issue debate on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. I heard the issues the Deputy raised and I hear them in my office. There are many delays in certain types of work permits, in particular in the transport sector. There are many transport companies in the west of Ireland, in particular Galway. I have met many and one of their major issues is trying to source drivers. In terms of bringing in drivers from abroad, the work permit system is taking a lot longer than it should. I will bring back the Deputy's comments to the Minister and Department. I will not read out my closing statement because it is the same as what I said at the beginning. I will ask the Minister whether something can be done to speed up these applications. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.

Water Pollution

Deputy Eoghan Kenny

The Minister of State will be well aware that on 11 August this year members of the Mallow angling group reported dead fish in the River Blackwater which, in turn, led to an investigation by Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Cork County Council and the Marine Institute. Fish mortality in the River Blackwater is on a scale that we have never before seen in this country. It is heartbreaking for the wildlife and natural habitat of the area. I would like to note that the committee on the environment has scheduled a meeting for the agencies concerned to come before it on 30 September and I thank the Chair for his engagement on that.

However, significant concerns still remain unanswered. The bottom line is that we still do not know what killed upwards of 40,000 fish in the Blackwater, which includes 40 km of water. That is quite extraordinary. I do not present myself as any expert in the area and I am not a scientist in any way, shape or form, but there has to be some evidence of the particular chemical agent, which was referred to by IFI, that killed these fish and polluted our water. The distress this has caused among many communities along the river is extraordinary and the outpouring of grief in the community is huge.

People, including me, have come to realise the importance of the river, and have realised the extent of pollution within our rivers across the country. This ecological disaster has taken quite an emotional toll on anglers, regular users of the river and members of our communities. I know many people who have fished on the Blackwater for upwards of 50 years and it has been a deeply distressing and depressing situation to be in for the past month. Added to this is the lack of communication and answers. A level of anger remains in Mallow and its environs, and I am right there with the people on that.

On the State agencies, I appreciate the fact that this was an extraordinary event that took place on the Blackwater. I was, and still am, dumbfounded by the lack of detail and communication from all State agencies involved in this ecological disaster. I attended a meeting in Mallow GAA sports complex, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley - it is much appreciated that he came and met the people of Mallow - and State agencies in late August.

The presentation given on the day by the IFI was nothing short of a disgrace. I, along with many members of the community, left the meeting with more concerns and questions than answers. The presentation consisted of four slides, two of which contained one word. If it was not such an important issue, it would have been extremely comical that a State agency in front of us was giving a presentation that, with all due respect, could have been given by a primary school child. That is not disrespectful. I fully believe the level of detail and communication afforded to the members of the community that morning was disgraceful.

Along with that, people did not know about the meeting. As the local TD, I have lived in Mallow for 25 years and did not know the IFI was coming to present to the community, and neither did members of the community. Only for the fact that a member of the public saw the information on the IFI website that morning, people would not have been made aware of the meeting. If I was reading between the lines, I presume that was the intention, namely not to have a significant number of people attend.

As the local TD, I should be allowed to act as a go-between between the State agencies and the constituents I represent. However, getting people to answer the phone or give concrete answers to my questions was extremely hard, which led to huge public anger. The fundamental issue is that our rivers across the country are not being protected. They are being constantly polluted by individuals, companies or State agencies. They are seen as some sort of a dumping ground for waste and, as horrific as it is to say, we have come to accept that. However, we will not accept it in Mallow. In plain English, we want to know how, when and who polluted the River Blackwater, killing upwards of 40,000 fish and destroying an entire ecosystem.

Deputy Noel Grealish

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who could not be here. I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this important issue and allowing me to update the House on matters relating to it. I want to begin by acknowledging the importance of the very serious kill that occurred on the River Blackwater and its tributaries near Mallow, County Cork, last month and I wish to emphasise that the Government fully recognise the enormous impact this incident has had on local communities, anglers and users of this important river catchment.

Since becoming aware of the incident, the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries and marine, Deputy Dooley, has been in close contact with IFI and other relevant agencies and he has visited the site on two occasions to consult with the local community and anglers. The Minister of State chaired a well-attended town hall meeting in Mallow between agencies and stakeholders, principally anglers and their representatives. Officials in the Department have also been working closely with IFI and other agencies to co-ordinate public updates and to ensure information is being released as it becomes available.

To ensure that a co-ordinated and thorough response is in place, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, established an inter-agency group last month, co-ordinated by the IFI, which includes the EPA, Marine Institute, Cork County Council, the local authorities water programme, Uisce Éireann, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, and the HSE. The function of this group was to pool necessary resources and expertise across multiple bodies to provide for a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to addressing and investigating this fish kill. The group has already met on several occasions in the last month, including twice under the chairmanship of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and met most recently on 22 September to agree and sign off on a draft report concerning the investigation.

Over the last month, extensive investigations and testing have been carried out by the relevant agencies and all potential pollution sources in the area have been examined. While pathology testing carried out by the Marine Institute indicated possible exposure to some form of environmental insult or water-borne irritant was likely to have caused or contributed to the incident, no definitive cause for the fish kill has been identified in any of the test results. Unfortunately, this is not unusual. In some cases, the triggering factor has either dissipated or is not detectable by the time an investigation commences, making identification impossible.

A significant mortality of fish has occurred, primarily of the trout species. While it will take time for stocks to fully recover, the river remains open for fishing and healthy stocks are present. Importantly, the results of ongoing monitoring and testing indicate that the river continues to be safe, including for angling, with no water quality issues currently detected. All agencies will continue to carry out ongoing monitoring and routine surveys and inspections in the Blackwater catchment and more widely across other water courses.

A full incident report is being completed by the inter-agency group involving a review of actions taken by all agencies, including full and comprehensive findings from all investigations and recommendations for future action relating to the River Blackwater catchment and other river ecosystems.

On behalf of the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, I thank local anglers and community members who provided vital information to IFI staff during the course of this investigation.

Deputy Eoghan Kenny

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I appreciate it. I fully recognise the Government's response to this. To the fair to them, the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and O'Sullivan, have taken calls from me and have recognised the fact that a significant ecological disaster that has affected many species and wildlife has taken place on the River Blackwater. My issue lies solely with the State agencies involved, particularly IFI. Trying to get those agencies on the phone is next to impossible. Trying to get a response from them as to the reassurances I possibly bring back to local anglers, other regular users of the river and members of the community is nearly impossible.

No definite cause for the fish kill has been identified in any of the test results. The IFI website refers those results indicating that some sort of chemical agent was the cause of the issue. I call on the IFI to give some sort of reassurance and a definite answer in plain English to ordinary members of the public. It is very difficult to understand the results that are being presented to people. That has to be recognised.

The fact that it is going to take upwards of ten or 12 years for the river to be fully restocked in terms of trout and perhaps even longer for salmon is quite difficult to understand. Some reassurance has to be given to local anglers. In particular, I want to mention Mr. Conor Arnold from the Killavullen Angling Club who owns an angling company that operates on the river. What happened has had a detrimental impact on his business. I want to be in a position to reassure the public. To be fair, the Government's response has been quite good, but I have serious difficulty with the State agencies and their lack of accountability.

Deputy Noel Grealish

I thank the Deputy for his remarks regarding the Government's response to this. I reiterate that the Government takes this significant fish mortality very seriously. As the House is aware, farmers have been asked to escalate their efforts in respect of water quality protection. State agencies must do the same. Moreover, there is a duty on State bodies and actors in the public sector to take a lead in ensuring that the risk of pollution incidents and events is minimised. Incidents of this nature are a significant source of concern because of their devastating ecological impact on local ecosystems. They should not happen. I assure the House that no effort will be spared in the context of seeking to prevent or minimise the advent of further incidents of this nature.

It is deeply regrettable that the extensive work carried out to establish the cause of this incident has not yielded any significant results. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, has requested a comprehensive interagency report on the investigation into the incident. That report will be important in the context of understanding how we can streamline our cross-agency response to these incidents and ensure that we are identifying the source of pollutants and irritants in our catchments as quickly as possible. It is essential that our agencies work with all stakeholders to ensure that our prevention compliance and incident response actions are as effective as possible. Now that the investigation is concluding, it is imperative that lessons are learnt in order that we will be in a stronger position in the context of ensuring the prevention of events of this nature in the future. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

Wastewater Treatment

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

This matter relates to issues that the communities in Mahon and Blackrock in the south-east of Cork city are experiencing. Fundamentally, the answers people are looking for is how and when the problem that exists is going to be fixed. They have not received such answers. When a resolution will be found is not something the communities in question have a sense of at this point.

The main issue is a foul odour that can be smelled in the open air. This has been the case for four weeks. The odour is legitimately and correctly being linked to sewage issues. However, residents can also smell it from their sinks and toilets. It is not so much that there is matter emerging; it is the odour itself. People are quite reasonably concerned about the health implications of this for them and the community in general. Unfortunately, this is not the first sewage-related issue in that part of the city. Not far away on Monahan Road, there were issues regarding a sewage overflow near the marina earlier this year. The Minister of State may have heard about that.

I have been in contact with Irish Water a number of times over the past couple of weeks. The most recent response I received referred to early contractor involvement, ECI, works going on at Atlantic Pond and Ballinure to upgrade the pumping stations there. Part of these works include septicity dosing at Atlantic Pond due to the low flows and high temperature in the network during the summer months. That was basically the nature of the update I received. The concerns that exist seem to relate to the Mahon pumping station and possibly one other station.

In response to the update I received two weeks ago, I made further inquiries. I have not yet received a reply. The fundamental questions people are asking are as follows. First, is the explanation I received satisfactory? I am not sure that it is. The community is not convinced that it is. Would septicity explain the foul smell? If so, how does the relevant process work? More crucially, when will the dosing be concluded and when can the smell be expected to be gone? When is this matter going to be brought to a conclusion?

There has not been any communication about this matter. Irish Water has merely told us that it is trying to address it. In the almost two weeks since I submitted my questions, I have not received any clarification on the issues raised. To be totally frank, from speaking to former employees of Cork City Council and people who would have worked in the water section there, their contention is that the pumping stations are operating above capacity. They indicate that new connections have been added that the pumping stations were not built to accommodate and that the level of maintenance and checks carried out at these locations is not what it would have been four or five years ago. In other words, these pumping stations are not receiving the attention they would have received in the past.

We need to get to the bottom of this. What the people of Mahon, Blackrock, Ballintemple and the surrounding areas are looking for is a clear sense of how this is going to be fixed and when it is going to end. It needs to end. There are questions as to whether there are implications for public health. People have reasonable concerns in that regard. They need to know that this is going to be brought to a conclusion.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan)

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this issue. I imagine that he experienced frustration during the summer and has probably waiting for an opportunity to highlight this matter in the Dáil. Perhaps he could provide some feedback on whether this malodour was at a heightened level during the summer months. We had a pretty dry June and July, with high temperatures and low rainfall. There probably was not much flow in the system, if that makes sense. I am not an engineering expert, but my understanding is that this can lead to malodours.

We had a similar issue with a brand-new system in Courtmacsherry. What happened was that because the sewage had to travel such a distance from Timoleague to Courtmacsherry, the malodour was exacerbated in areas where it was settling and remaining stagnant. That is pretty much the explanation Uisce Éireann is giving in this instance.

The response is perhaps not much different from the one Deputy Ó Laoghaire received two weeks ago, but I will endeavour ensure that he gets clarity on the other issues he has raised.

Uisce Éireann informs me that during the summer months, it is not unusual to see a seasonal spike in odour instances across the country. Odours can be more pronounced for a variety of reasons, including prolonged warm or dry weather, humidity, reduced wastewater flows, increased biological activity and seawater infiltration, wind direction and agricultural activities can also be contributing factors.

As the Deputy outlined, the primary cause of the odour locally is septicity in the wastewater network. When wastewater becomes stagnant and oxygen levels drop, hydrogen sulphide gas is produced, resulting in strong, unpleasant smells. This is exacerbated by low flows and high temperatures, particularly during the summer months. That was the explanation I was given in terms of what we experienced locally in the Courtmacsherry-Timoleague area. I wonder if that is what is happening in this instance.

The Deputy will know from the response he received that Uisce Éireann is making improvements and is carrying out early contractor involvement, ECI, works at Atlantic Pond and Ballinure to upgrade the sites there. As part of these works, Uisce Éireann will be introducing septicity dosing at Atlantic Pond.

That is where specific chemicals are introduced that have an impact in terms of reducing the malodour. The idea is to reduce that stale malodour during the summer months when flows are low and temperatures are high.

In summary, Uisce Éireann is aware of the issues. The Deputy has asked for clarification in terms of getting a bit more evidence as to whether what Uisce Éireann is saying is producing these malodours is factual. I have seen in my personal experience where this has been the case. If further works are required in this case, however, I know that, in the situation where I am, an extra pumping station is the solution. Perhaps Uisce Éireann needs to go a step further and inquire if an extra pumping station is needed in this case, too, to increase the flow so there is not that stagnant sewage and malodour. Uisce Éireann is going to continue to monitor the situation there, but it is also talking about reviewing and updating operational procedures as needed to ensure a long-term resolution in the area. If I can give the Deputy and the residents of Mahon and the Blackrock area any chink of light, it is that Uisce Éireann is open to reviewing the situation so that a long-term solution can perhaps be built there.

Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

I thank the Minister of State. It is important that representations are made from the offices of the Minister of State and-or the Minister to Uisce Éireann in relation to this issue. I say this because the response seems to offer two potential causes for the malodour without necessarily nailing the company's colours to the mast as to whether it is the low water levels and the summer, the septicity, or a mixture of both. I am unclear on that.

Regarding the weather, this issue originated in late August. Obviously, there was good weather then, but we have had periods of rain since and I think there was a smell as recently as two or three days ago. There has been rain in that period now, so I am not sure that dry and hot weather alone is the answer to why the issue exists. It is not clear from the answer today or the correspondence I have received that septicity dosing itself causes malodour. I know it is intended to address malodour, but it is not clear whether it causes the problem itself, either for a short or medium time.

The fundamental issue here is that this problem is continuing. It has still been an issue in the last couple of days and there has been no indication from Uisce Éireann that it is going to be brought to a conclusion. That is the key bit of information we need. We need a timeline for when this issue is going to be resolved. If it is the case that further infrastructure is needed, then I think that needs to be communicated so people have a sense of when interventions like this are going to be needed.

I do think there is a bit of an issue here. Problems have arisen in two nearby areas in the last eight or nine months. Is this a sewerage system in that part of the city that is struggling to cope? That potentially seems to be an issue of capacity but also an issue with maintenance. I have spoken to former contractors who worked for the council in this area and they say the level of checks happening now is not what it should be and is not what it used to be.

The big issue here is the timeline. If the Minister of State can try to get Uisce Éireann to give a timeline of when this problem is going to be resolved, the people of Mahon and Blackrock would appreciate it.

Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan

The Minister, Deputy Browne, apologised that he could not make it here to deal with this question personally, but we work collaboratively within the Department anyway. I will absolutely undertake to try to get more detail and a timeline. Regarding the cause of the issue, septicity is the cause of the odour. The untreated sewage at this point remains stagnant en route to the treatment plant, so it is not necessarily a situation where the treatment plant is not working. I am sorry to keep harping back to my own example, but the treatment plant in Courtmacsherry is working perfectly. The flow stops, though, where the raw sewage is being transported to the treatment plant and that is where we get the septicity. The chemical being added is the way of treating and trying to remove the odours. That is my understanding of the treatment process Uisce Éireann is incorporating in what it is doing in the Mahon area and in this instance. It may be the case, however, that the approach is not going to work and there may be a case for an extra pumping station to increase the flow so there is not the septicity and stagnant water. The Deputy is looking for clarity, more accurate answers and timelines, and I undertake to get those timelines for him.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Aidan Farrelly)

As we have finished Topical Issues, we will suspend the House.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 9.45 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 10 a.m.

Sitting suspended at 9.45 a.m. and resumed at 10 a.m.

Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 24 Sep 2025