It has rained for 77 days across Ireland so far this year. At the start of the year, there were 54 consecutive days of rain. We have been blessed with a couple of weeks of fine weather, but already we have a six-week hosepipe ban in a number of counties. There are towns and villages in my county that have not had a proper water supply for weeks. Uisce Éireann is spending €250,000 a year to tanker water to Ballivor. The local school had to close as a result of not having a supply of water. Uisce Éireann was fined €20 million for not reaching its targets in terms of fixing the 36% of water supplies that are leaking from the pipes. It has admitted that it will take until 2050 to fill the gaps that are blocking the building of homes in this country. Even in developing countries, it is government's responsibility to keep water in the taps. The Government here is failing in that regard. Will it commit to fixing Uisce Éireann?

On the hosepipe ban, there are certain precautions the State and Irish Water should take in light of the unprecedented heat that we have experienced this summer, particularly in the past number of weeks. That would make sense. The hot weather could continue. We have seen what has happened across Europe and the horrific consequences for communities in Spain, France and elsewhere. We have also seen the excess deaths that have occurred on the Continent because of excessive heat. We do need to be cautious in respect of water. That said, I do think we can do far more to conserve water when it is raining. All of us can. I would argue that the amount of rainfall amounts are increasing in volume. We need to capture that water, and conserve and preserve it-----

Uisce Éireann-----

I call Deputy Malcolm Byrne.

We have worked very hard to improve and enhance Uisce Éireann.

I thank the Taoiseach. The time is up.

We have allocated huge resources to it.