Ciarán Ahern
Dublin South-West · Labour Party · Ireland
“What we are asking for today is simply that the Government lives up to the commitment made in the programme for Government to carry out a new, independent feasibility study for an extension of the MetroLink from where it is currently due to end in Charlemont, out to Dublin south west.”
“It examined quite a nonsensical route that finished abruptly in Knocklyon, and therefore it significantly underestimated the cost benefit of the project.”
“This all comes back to funding our schools. All too often, despite the much publicised overspend in the education budget, schools still have to fight tooth and nail to get the resources they need. I never predicted that so much of my time as a TD would be spent working with local schools on funding and resourcing issues.”
“As the capitation grant is not covering basic operating costs, many school boards feel that to avoid running deficits, which they will get into trouble for from their governing bodies, they have to find funds elsewhere.”
“As the Minister knows, parents are paying hand over fist for ancillary school costs, be it for school uniforms, laptops, school transport or the so-called voluntary contributions. We cannot say we have free education in this country if the whole architecture that enables proper participation is hugely expensive for parents.”
“Some parents are now having to pay hundreds of euro for devices if their children are to just fully participate in school. As this motion states, we are at risk of creating a digital divide and new inequalities in our education system unless we put further supports in place for low-income families. Kevin Shortall, principal of St.”
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“In almost all cases, people who require care and personal support, including older people, would prefer the care to be delivered in the comfort of their own home and community. The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing and the ESRI have both reported that institutionalisation is being imposed on many older people and disabled people who should, and wish to instead, be enabled to live at home and be included in their community. This is their right under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a State, we have institutionalised people as a default social care response. From the Magdalen laundries, to psychiatric institutions, to direct provision, to congregated care settings in nursing homes, again and again these systems, profit making and the lack of State regulation involved have been shown to cause serious abuse.”
“We have heard the pleas of care champions and other relentless campaigners who continue to call for a statutory inquiry into the mistreatment and neglect in our nursing homes, which had particularly devastating effects during Covid. The proliferation of private providers is at the heart of this issue. For me, the key takeaway from the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was that the State's failure to provide sufficient care for older people through home care and residential care has enabled the ever-increasing privatisation of the nursing home sector. We can clearly see that a model of profit maximisation above all else will never provide adequate and dignified care to those who need it.”
“I commend my colleagues, Deputies Sherlock and Wall, for tabling the motion. All of us in the House were outraged by the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, which showed the appalling levels of abuse and malpractice in older people's care settings. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. They depend on the help of others to meet their basic needs, as any one of us here might well need some day. To see the conditions these older people were living in, and the routine violation of their human dignity, was shocking. It is incredibly upsetting to consider that any of our relatives living in long-term residential care could face the same indignities and abuse. These abuses are widespread and long term.”
“I have been contacted by many schools in my constituency, such as Firhouse Educate Together, Cnoc Mhuire Senior School in Killinarden and Scoil Aoife Community National School in Citywest, to name but a few, which have all been denied additional SNA allocation by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, despite significant evidence of need being submitted and despite recommendations by special educational needs organisers, SENOs, who carried out the reviews. I would like to clarify why so many schools in Dublin South-West and around the country are being denied the additional SNAs they desperately need. Is there in effect a recruitment freeze in place?”
“In response to a question I put to him a number of months ago regarding autism supports and services for children in my constituency, the Taoiseach said he was of the view that many of these services should be provided through schools, and I agree. That being the case, why are so many schools in Dublin South-West being denied additional special needs assistants, SNAs, despite a clearly identified need?”
“When we confer extraordinary powers on our police force and the courts, we must be assured that those powers are respected and not abused. The Minister cannot ignore what is now emerging if we want to maintain trust in An Garda Síochána and the courts process.”
“The admission of belief evidence from a chief superintendent is a key provision in trials for the offence of membership of an unlawful organisation. The majority Peart report makes important recommendations, while the minority report urges an end to the use of this evidence. In conclusion, the reason I bring this up is because of the serious concerns about firearms and An Garda Síochána related to a number of issues that have been raised by our justice spokesperson, Deputy Alan Kelly, over recent months. In particular, the case of Evan Fitzgerald has caused deep concern about the use of entrapment and how such operations are carried out. Based on the revelations from Deputy Kenny, and what Senator McDowell said in the Seanad yesterday, it is becoming clear that the judge in the case was misled by sworn Garda evidence.”
“As we said in our Labour Party manifesto, we need to ensure non-jury trials are the exception and introduce measures to address concerns about jury tampering or intimidation. Modern technology should also be considered in the implementation of reforms. It is welcome that the Minister for justice has committed to acting on the recommendations of the majority report of the independent review of the Offences against the State Acts. The Labour Party will be supporting the substantive motion and the Sinn Féin amendment and we hope to see legislative progress over the next 12 months. We also urge the Minister and the Department officials to carefully consider the proposals outlined in the minority report and how aspects can be incorporated into the proposals the Minister intends to bring forward, particularly on jury reform.”
“The Labour Party has also in the past raised the absence of sufficient information to support an informed finding as to the adequacy or otherwise of the ordinary courts to secure the effective administration of justice and the preservation of public peace and order in relation to offences under the Act. Every year, the Dáil and the Seanad are asked to declare that the ordinary criminal courts are inadequate, and that our treasured and highly valued principle of jury trial is somehow not fit to deal with particular offences. This decision should be based on more evidence than we have ever been provided with when asked to make this declaration. In particular, we have not been given any information as to the adequacy of the criminal courts or the risk of corruption or intimidation of jurors.”
“Page 12 of the report states: The current system of “scheduled offences”, under which certain offences are automatically or presumptively tried by a non-jury court, should be abolished. Instead, the decision as to whether a non-jury court is used should, in every instance, be based on an assessment of the circumstances pertaining to the particular case. The offence would remain in place and be triable in the ordinary way and the DPP would retain its discretion to transfer any particular trial to the Special Criminal Court. The review group also recommended many other reforms and safeguards, including the repeal of many outdated provisions and offences.”
“The core recommendation endorsed by the Peart review in 2023 was, as we are all aware, also made much earlier, in 2002 in the Hederman review. The Oireachtas was called upon to repeal the existing Acts and replace them with a single consolidated item of legislation containing significant reforms. The Peart review's minority report went further and recommended the abolition of the Special Criminal Court. The majority report supported its retention but also recommended, as do we in the Labour Party, that there should be no blanket referral of offences to a non-jury court and that, instead, the DPP should use the power it already has to decide on a case-by-case basis whether there is a sufficient threat to the administration of justice to justify sending a particular trial to that non-jury court.”
“First, there should be no need for an annual vote on some of these provisions. Rather, these should part of our permanent criminal code. For example, the offence of directing an unlawful criminal organisation should be a crime rather than being regarded as an emergency provision. Withholding information about the commission of a crime should also be a permanent offence. The report of Mr. Justice Michael Peart's review group confirms the position adopted by the Labour Party. It is frustrating that the core recommendations have not yet been acted on. It is long past time for the Department to extract from the 1998 Act and this annual renewal process the provisions of the Act that are used in practice that are effective and should really be enacted in permanent form.”
“I am addressing these motions on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Kelly, who is chairing a committee at this time. As we debate these motions we cannot be blind to their history, and our thoughts are with the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing and all those who are victims of organised crime and terrorism. It is important to stress the motions are not about the Special Criminal Court or renewing or confirming the existence of that court, which has been in place since 1972. These motions relate to the need for the annual renewal of changes made to the Offences Against the State Act in 1998 and the continuation of section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. Over the years, the Labour Party has made clear its view on the need to make changes to these provisions.”
“I ask the Minister to really consider that because, from talking to the JLO in my area at our Tallaght transport forum meetings, I know that is the way forward if we are talking about interventions and ASBOs on public transport. Some 80% to 90% of young people do not reoffend after a JLO intervention. That is to be preferred to a court or criminal intervention.”
“I will press the Minister again to provide a more defined timeline for this. When does he think it is going to be done? Has the Minister looked at the Travel Safe policy document prepared by SIPTU? Has he met SIPTU or any other interested parties yet? I suggest that he do. There is one proposal from SIPTU I was particularly taken with. It related to public transport assistance units. These would be social care intervention officers specifically trained to deal with those causing a public disturbance on the public transport network. This would be more applicable to interventions in respect of underlying social care issues. These officers would work with the transport police in whatever format that force took.”
“It is good to hear that work is under way. We would like to see a separate division of An Garda Síochána rather than a separate policing force. I would like to understand the Minister's thoughts on that. Antisocial behaviour and violence on public transport happens in all of our constituencies, not least in my own constituency of Dublin South-West. It does not often get too much public attention. I am thankful that our community in Dublin South-West is working constructively to reduce these issues. We hold monthly transport forum meetings between local gardaí, juvenile liaison officers, Dublin Bus drivers, Luas drivers, the local council - that is important - local community groups, youth groups and public representatives to try to ensure drivers and passengers can experience a safe environment on public transport.”
“What steps has the Minister taken to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers on Dublin Bus in the aftermath of the very serious incident at Mountjoy Square in April in which a man threatened a bus driver with a gun? Will he outline his plans for a dedicated transport police force?”
“We want it to make recommendations on the nuts and bolts of that process and to then hold a referendum to change our Constitution, as the constitutional convention decided conclusively to do 12 years ago.”
“While most EU countries allow their citizens living abroad to vote in their elections, there is a strong case for seeking agreement on a European level for complimentary voting rights for Irish citizens living in other EU countries and vice versa . That would allow those who live and work in another EU country to take part in the democratic decisions that most influence their lives. In conclusion, there is substantial work under way by the Electoral Commission on various reforms and research on potential changes, but unless there is political will to change the way we hold our elections from the Government, nothing will change. We believe a special committee should be established to report on how the presidential franchise would be extended to all citizens.”
“You must be on the register and show up on the day between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Even the United States has early voting. This is something we would like to see facilitated. The Labour Party has also long supported the lowering of the voting age to 16. This is a measure that could be implemented before the 2029 local and European elections. We also believe that the Electoral Commission should research the extension of voting rights for Dáil elections to all long-term residents living in Ireland for more than five years. British citizens can vote in our Dáil elections but EU citizens who have been living here for decades are barred from doing so unless they take up citizenship.”
“Providing a vote for recent emigrants would not be technically difficult. Their vote would be located in the constituency where they were resident and on the register before they left. Their vote would issue by postal ballot. It would be a trial run for extending the presidential franchise to all citizens and ensure we get our postal voting system right. Of course, we could also look at technology if we wanted to adapt to the 21st century, although our experiment with electronic voting has made that a taboo subject since. The commission has also made recommendations on waiving the charges imposed on persons applying for the postal vote because of illness, disability or other medical certification. It should be much easier to get a postal vote. Compared to many other countries, Ireland makes it very hard to vote.”
“Of 27 EU states, Ireland is one of three that does not extend suffrage to recent emigrants beyond 18 months; those three being Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. Currently, Irish citizens can vote in Irish elections for up to 18 months after leaving Ireland, if they intend to return in the same period. It had been previously proposed by the then Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, Jimmy Deenihan, to extend this period to three years. Notably, a Private Members' Bill from the Labour Party, proposed by Deputy Gerry O'Sullivan in 1991, proposed that emigrants from Ireland should have the right to vote for up to 15 years after becoming non-resident. It was defeated at the time by just four votes. It was introduced as part of the campaign at that time to extend the franchise to emigrants.”
“There are 11 local authorities with more people registered to vote than the eligible population for their area. The Electoral Commission has made substantial recommendations to address this but it will be 2026 before we see real progress and it must be completed before the 2029 local and European elections. If the Minister wants to take real tangible action in the meantime, I urge him to start with supporting those living outside the State for short periods to vote in our elections. I am sure we all encountered people in the recent general election, and local elections, who were unable to vote because they were outside the country. The home to vote movement during the repeal and marriage equality referendums should have inspired us, long ago, to change our outdated laws.”
“Ireland has long ignored the rights of our citizens who have emigrated to participate in our elections and severely restricted the ability of people to use postal votes. These are key issues that must and should be resolved in advance of any referendum. Many of these will be researched by the recently established Electoral Commission and the Labour Party made substantial proposals on these issues when the legislation for that was passed by the Oireachtas. It is welcome that the research programme of the Electoral Commission will look at postal voting this year and residency voting next year. This work would dovetail well with that of a special committee established to look at extending the franchise for presidential elections. A key first step is to clean up the electoral register as it stands and so improve the security of our votes.”
“Rushing a constitutional amendment, as happened last year - there were substantial hearings on the wording but without heed to the considered recommendations of the Oireachtas committees concerned - was certainly one reason we lost that. The follow-on impact on public policy from a referendum loss in this regard would be a recipe for disaster. As I said, we call for that special Oireachtas committee which would allow for the nuts and bolts of how voting would work to be outlined and considered and provide a roadmap for implementation. As I said at the start of my contribution, whatever one's view on a referendum, we already have scope within the Constitution to look at extending the franchise.”
“The convention debate and the report that followed addressed many of these legal and practical issues, but that was nearly 12 years ago. A welcome first step would be the establishment of a special Oireachtas committee to tease out these issues and make substantive policy recommendations. There is cross-party consensus on the principle of extending the franchise for presidential elections but, as we saw with the repeal referendum, holding committee hearings in advance makes a substantial impact on informing the public debate. I listened to the Minister of State's remarks earlier. He asked how we win this debate.”
“Other questions that will need to be addressed include whether the right should be restricted to those born on the island of Ireland, all those with citizenship or those with a passport. We would support citizenship as a condition for eligibility. There is, however, a real risk a referendum could be defeated by fearmongering or the inverse of the American slogan of "No taxation without representation", particularly if there was a failure to prepare. Such an outcome would send a negative message about the future of the island and about efforts to achieve a united Ireland. There is also the possibility that giving our diaspora a vote only in the presidential election could be seen as tokenistic. However, in our view it would be a hugely symbolic measure and another step towards unity.”
“Labour supports the holding of a referendum on this matter but we would warn that extensive and detailed planning work is required before it could happen, if any lessons are to be learned from our recent votes. In particular, arrangements for the registration of new voters in the North and for voting by those citizens would have to be workable and robust. Other considerations arising include the method of voting, cost and resource needs and the security of the ballot. The standard practice in other countries of using postal voting, in-person registration or voting in embassies would not necessarily be practical at all of the North. In-person voting would likely need to be facilitated there.”
“Irish young people were once again having to leave their homes in the country to find jobs and advance their careers, due to an economic crash caused by Fianna Fáil. There was also renewed focus on our diaspora as we sought to boost our economic recovery by tapping into our global network to aid the creation of new jobs and attract new investment. The Fine Gael minority Government, supported by Fianna Fáil from 2016 to 2020, committed to holding a referendum on extending the franchise in presidential elections to citizens living abroad. Enda Kenny confirmed his intention to hold that referendum during his St. Patrick's Day trip in 2017. The then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced in 2019 the decision to postpone the holding of the referendum at the upcoming local and European elections until later that year. Nothing more ever came of it.”
“The fifth report of the constitutional convention, published in November 2013, recommended that citizens resident outside the State have the right to vote in presidential elections. During the Second Stage debate on a Sinn Féin Bill proposing a constitutional amendment on this issue over a decade ago, in March 2015, my colleague Deputy Nash responded for the Government of the time. The Bill was not opposed then either. It was noted during a debate, as it has been today, that a large number of practical and policy issues need to be addressed before the extension of the franchise and the holding of any referendum. It is incredible that ten years on, nothing has been done to advance this, despite a commitment to act. The debate at that time did not occur in a vacuum. There was a renewed focus on emigration.”
“The right to vote in presidential elections is determined by Article 12 of the Constitution and delimited to citizens eligible to vote in Dáil elections. It is our view that it should be legally possible to extend the franchise to recent emigrants without a referendum. It should also be extended to EU citizens living here. These are two issues I will return to. The broader issue, as outlined in this motion, arises for citizens living abroad who have never lived here, particularly those living in Northern Ireland. When the Labour Party was in government, it established the convention on the Constitution in 2012. One of the key issues it addressed was voting rights for citizens resident outside of the State. Many of the reports of the convention were acted on but this is a key outstanding issue.”
“I think it is the first time I have addressed the Minister of State in the Chamber. I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him the best of luck with it. The Labour Party has long supported the extension of the voting franchise. We feel it goes to the heart of our democracy. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion, which we will support. Many proposals on voting rights, especially for our diaspora, have come before this House. That is particularly linked to a history of emigration. The right to vote in elections to Dáil Éireann is outlined in Article 16 of the Constitution and is open to all citizens over 18 and other persons as determined by law. They must also be ordinarily resident in Ireland and registered to vote.”
“If it is a funding issue with Dublin Bus, then just give it the funding. I reiterate my call for a new feasibility study on a metro for Dublin South-West. Getting the sod turned on MetroLink will hopefully be a priority for this Government, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to Dublin South-West because 350,000 people live there are there is zero rail infrastructure. I will be working closely with the Metro South-West Group on this issue during the current Dáil term. I commend the group on its work on this to date.”
“Earlier this year, there were serious issues with the reliability of certain bus services in Dublin South-West, particularly the S6 and S8 routes, causing incredible frustration in our area. Thankfully, these issues appear to have been largely resolved but it points to a broader trend with the quality of services being provided on routes that have been privatised. There has been a notable decline in that quality since many of the routes in my area were taken over by Go-Ahead, be it the increasing frequency of ghost buses, cancellations or issues around punctuality. TFI is considering privatising even more routes, and I put my party's opposition to this on record. It makes more sense to have a single public entity, namely Dublin Bus, operate all services in Dublin rather than a mishmash of public and for-profit providers.”
“Given that the crux of the motion is the public transport experience for passengers, I also want to give my support to a matter raised recently by my party leader, Deputy Bacik. I refer to the rules relating to pets on public transport. We are out of step with many of our European neighbours. My understanding is that, on buses anyway, it is often at the discretion of the driver as to whether someone is allowed on a with a pet. In the interests of inclusivity and encouraging more people to use public transport, we should make it policy that pets be permitted on public transport, with the necessary caveats that they are on a leash and so forth. The motion calls for better public transport experience, but, of course, you cannot have an experience if there is no bus or train there for you.”
“We hold monthly transport forum meetings with bus drivers, gardaí, the council, local community and youth groups and public representatives to try to ensure that every passenger and driver can experience a safe environment and that the bus services are not cut off in any of our communities due to violence or dangerous incidents. I pay tribute to SIPTU for pushing the issue and commend its broader Respect Transport Workers campaign, a really positive initiative. I also acknowledge and thank the thousands of transport workers across the country for the work they do every day. We could certainly do with transport police. I reiterate the call in the motion to have the force up and running by at least the end of next year.”
“I ask the Minister work closely with the NTA to change this. The motion also refers to the proposed transport security force - a dedicated transport police. I welcome this. The incident in Mountjoy Square last April in which a man threatened a bus driver with a gun brought violence on public transport to public attention. Many political promises were made in the aftermath of that incident. Unfortunately, there are dangerous and sometimes violent incidents on buses in parts of my constituency of Dublin South-West all too regularly, but they get absolutely no attention. Thankfully, our community is working together to try to solve these issues.”
“This motion provides a good picture of the direction we need to move in, both in terms of investment and regarding how we bring people along with us and encourage them to leave their cars at home as much as possible. Anything we can do to make public transport more affordable and more widely used will get my support and that of my party. In this regard, I would like to see our rail pricing system looked at. A one-way flexi ticket from Galway to Dublin costs approximately €16, whereas the same ticket from Dublin to Cork costs €33, which is double the cost despite there being only approximately 40 km difference in the distance travelled. I have been in touch with the NTA about this. It acknowledged that the fare structures are not always equitable, consistent or easy for passengers to understand, as other Deputies have alluded to.”
“There is no lodestar to work towards, and the programme for Government is beyond bare when it comes to detail. Instead, it is bypasses for the boys and lay-bys for the lackeys. Any pretence that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or any Independents are sincere in their commitment towards climate action and encouraging the modal shift towards public transport is over. They will not make the difficult decisions, namely bold but absolutely necessary decisions like reallocating our existing road space for public transport. I cannot help but feel that they saw what happened to the Greens in the election and thought, “No thanks”. Regrettably, we are even seeing the Tánaiste oppose public transport measures in his constituency, which is depressing.”
“Labour called for that ratio to be increased to 5:1 because that is the sort of ambition we need if we ever hope to have a world-class public transport system and to meet our climate targets in the transport area. It is in that context that I was extremely disappointed with the programme for Government. At a time when we need to see a modal shift to the greatest extent possible away from private car use and towards greener, more sustainable modes of transport like buses, rail and cycling, what was the major policy change in the transport sector? It was to pour more concrete. It is clear that the climate-regressive, parish-pump instincts of this Government’s composition won the day. There is no vision for public transport in its plans.”
“For so many people across Ireland, private car use is their only option because of a lack of public transport, not just in terms of availability but also reliability, efficiency, frequency, cost and sometimes even personal safety. The previous Government committed to a ratio of 2:1 investment in public and active travel versus new road infrastructure, which was welcome. However, this needs to be built upon in order that we can decarbonise our transport sector and meet our vital carbon targets. That is not to mention the benefits in terms of connectivity, accessibility, health and so on, that more investment in public and active travel bring.”
“Anyone will tell you that our public transport system is far from perfect, but the evidence is there that investment works. We need to see continued investment. We still have not reached a place where public transport is the preferred option for the majority of people, which is where we ultimately need to be. Public transport answers, or at least provides a significant part of the answer to, so many of the questions we face with transport more broadly in this country. These are questions about the climate crisis and reducing our emissions and about road safety and reducing the number of fatalities on our roads, particularly in rural areas. With issues like driving test backlogs and the waiting times we are seeing, such a demand exists.”
“In addition, improvements to our public transport system are coming at too slow a pace. We see this in the context of the time it is taking to complete the roll-out of BusConnects, a relatively simple project. We have been talking about MetroLink for the better part of 25 years, and a sod still has not been turned in respect of it. This is not necessarily the fault of the Green Party. We know better than anyone that when you are in government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, you have to fight tooth and nail for every scrap you can get. Again, the measures the Green Party was able to get over the line during the term of the previous Government were largely positive. Building up capacity and making public transport an affordable and reliable option for people works.”
“I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing this motion before us. The Labour Party will gladly support it. I do not think there is a word in it that I would fault. The Green Party, to be fair, kick-started much-needed investment in our public transport during its time in government, following decades of neglect and underinvestment. It achieved fare reductions on public transport and enhanced Local Link services, investing record amounts and achieving a record 328 million public transport journeys last year. That was a 10% increase on the previous year and a 36% increase on 2022. The Luas passed 50 million journeys for the first time. We obviously need to see more of this. While acknowledging the constraints faced by a small party in government, I still believe more could have been done during the term of the previous Government.”
“It feels that the Minister is pursuing policies that are pushing us further and further away from reaching our climate goals through the Government's pursuit of road over rail and obsession with energy hungry data centres. There is change in policy on fracked gas and the green light was given for liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminals and increased fire powered generation. I call on the Minister again to change course.”
“Not only is the Government failing in this regard, it is also regrettably going backwards. Only last year, it was predicted that the State could reach 29% emission reductions. This year, it was reduced to 23% by the EPA. Our target for 2030 is that 80% of our energy will be renewable. The EPA is telling us that now only approximately 68% will be able to be renewable by 2030. When it comes to transport, the Minister referenced the number of EVs on the roads. The EPA is not even bothering with the previous goal of almost 1 million cars on the road; it is now talking about approximately 650,000 EVs on the road by 2030 at best.”
“The Minister referred to moving faster and we agree with him. He mentioned 1990, 1995 and 2005 figures, but these are irrelevant. The only figures that we are concerned with in this House anymore are the 2018 base levels. We need a 51% reduction from them by 2030. We are miles away from it and we are getting further. Is the Minister worried about the gap between promise and delivery? Can he tell us once and for all whether he has given up on the 51% reduction target by 2030? His own climate action plan for this year if implemented in full, which is vanishingly unlikely, will only bring us to reductions of 42% by 2030. What is he going to do? What radical steps is he going to take to increase the speed of delivery as he has pointed to here?”
“Again, is there any possibility of getting a timeline for the reports that Uisce Éireann is doing on these pipes and when it will be in a position first of all to do the short-term remedial work and then to replace the broader pipe network in the area?”
“I appreciate the acknowledgment from Uisce Éireann that the service over the Easter weekend was not up to scratch and not acceptable. It is really just not fair to be asking people to put up with these inevitable outages again and again between now and whenever the planned works take place. I appreciate that carrying out an upgrade on the pipes themselves is a more significant body of work, but the residents are concerned that if the existing pipes are left in place, regardless of any pressure management systems or reconfiguration that might occur in the near future, and given the age and condition of the pipes, it just will not solve the problem and they will be condemned to regular water outages.”
“The pipes are clearly at the end of their working life and are being pushed beyond their useful limits. I understand that Uisce Éireann is planning on reconfiguring the network and installing pressure management in the area later in the year. I will be asking the Minister of State that this be brought forward and prioritised in order that the issues can be addressed sooner. Ideally, we would also see an upgrade of the pipe network. Residents have not been able to get straight answers out of Uisce Éireann on what has been causing the problem, but it seems that Uisce Éireann has now admitted that, basically, it is the state the pipes are in. Will the Minister commit to that being looked into and perhaps provide a timeline in the near future for a network upgrade, which is clearly necessary?”