In recent times a number of towns across County Galway have experienced complete water outages or boiled water notices. Irish Water, in engaging with public representatives at national and local level to inform us why the issues have arisen and what is being done to resolve them and to assure us these issues will be avoided in the future, has not been forthcoming. I know from talking to colleagues here that the experience is similar across the country. I urge the Taoiseach to contact the CEO of Irish Water and ask him to put in place a formal protocol of engagement with public representatives at local and national level when such issues arise. It is important we are able to inform our constituents of what exactly is happening and what work is being done to resolve issues in the shortest possible timeframe.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The issue of outages in Galway has been raised by the Deputy and by some of his Dáil colleagues. I will contact Niall Gleeson, the chief executive of Irish Water. I am in regular contact with him. It is important Deputies are aware that Irish Water now has a €6 billion capital programme to deal with legacy issues we have had for decades. Having said that, communication is key and Oireachtas Members should be contacted and kept informed when issues arise. Following the Deputy’s intervention today, I will speak to the chief executive and revert to the Deputy.