Hogan promises more investment in water system

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has said that more money will be invested into the Irish water system so councils do not experience shortage problems.

Minister Hogan made the commitment after he criticised Dublin City Council for their handling of the current water crisis there.

More than a million people are affected by the water shortages in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, which arose following a production problem at the Ballymore Eustace treatment plant.

Minister Hogan says residents should have been advised of the planned water restrictions sooner.

"What we have to plan for is to ensure that people have good quality and good quantities of water in the future, and with present levels of investment, that won't happen," he said.

"And what I'm trying to do over the last two years is to put a new system in place which will actually conserve water through the metering programme, will have additional capital investment, up to €600m a year, rather than €240m a year, in order to ensure that we have sufficient quantities and quality of water."