Madam, - Fintan O'Toole, in his comments on the Galway water supply problems (Opinion, April 10th) chooses to overlook a number of facts.
The first fact is, of course, the reality that legal and practical responsibility for delivering a clean water supply to households in Galway lies with Galway City Council.
The second fact which Mr O'Toole chooses to overlook is that as far back as 2002, funding was made available to Galway City Council to replace its old Terryland water plant. The inability of the old plant to produce potable water is a key factor in the current problems in Galway City and the surrounding area.
A third point is that when I visited Galway on March 30th I specifically offered the council assistance with delivering clean water to the households affected by the current crisis. Indeed I offered, if necessary, to request Army and/or Civil Defence assistance to bring water by tanker to households affected by the current crisis.
The offer was not taken up by the council. The offer was made again subsequently and again was rejected by the Council. The council has been looking since at a variety of alternative means of achieving the same object. I have offered it assistance with any practical solution that it puts in place.
For the record, Galway City Council has also been offered clean water from the Tuam regional system. The two local councils are working to make this happen. The council has also been offered funds to put in place a package water treatment plant with a greater capacity than the existing and troubled old Terryland plant.
The Council has also been offered every assistance in fast-tracking the permanent replacement of the old treatment plant, the project for which funding was put in place in 2002.
Mr O'Toole, in his own inimitable and biased way, also chooses to berate Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Crowe, a candidate in the coming general election. Long before the Galway water crisis Cllr Crowe very sensibly suggested that steps should be taken to reduce phosphates entering into watercourses as a result of domestic activities. His point was that it was not possible for a local council to deal with this particular issue and that such action was appropriately taken at national level.
It is very much a matter for the local council, particularly where there is a breakdown in its water delivery system, to get emergency supplies to individual households while the problem is being resolved. Councils cannot, however, unilaterally solve the problem which Cllr Crowe drew to the public's attention - the need for a national standard on dishwasher detergents. It is a pity that Mr O'Toole allows, once again, his palpable political bias to cloud his thinking. - Yours, etc,
DICK ROCHE TD, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.