Water shortages hit Fingal residents particularly hard during the cold snap earlier this year. Many local people were forced to queue to get water from mobile tankers as the supply was cut off to their homes.

Years of chronic under-investment in our water system means that too much water is lost through leaking pipes. It became clear earlier this year that the water supply in Fingal is only a hair’s breath away from severe shortages.

In information released to me by the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, it is clear that government capital investment in Fingal has lagged significantly behind the national average.

Having peaked at €26.4m in 2007, investment fell off dramatically to only €10m in 2008 and €15.7m in 2009. Nationally, investment by government in other local authority areas under the Water Services Investment Programme and the Rural Water Programme amounted to €495m in both 2007 and 2008, rising to €511m in 2010.

The dramatic reductions in water supply and wastewater investments applied to Fingal in recent years are both surprising and disappointing.

Tens of thousands of new homes have been built in Fingal in recent years and the provision of public services, including water supply and wastewater disposal, has struggled to keep pace with growing demand.

I would have expected that investment levels would have at least kept pace with the national average.

When new housing estates and apartment complexes are developed, development levies are collected by local authorities to help finance necessary local infrastructure. The Minister for the Environment, however, has recently instructed local authorities not to spend much of the development levies collected. This has resulted in an infrastructure deficit most keenly felt in fast-developing areas like Fingal.

The Minister must ensure that adequate funds are released to ensure that Fingal’s creaking water system gets the attention it needs.