Fine Gael's deputy leader, Mrs Nora Owen, has demanded that the Minister for Health should bring in the Army to help distribute water around St Ita's Hospital in Portrane, Co Dublin, following the E.coli contamination of the water system.
"There are 550 very vulnerable patients and residents, plus about the same number of staff who since last Friday, June 18th, have had to make do with tankers of cold water supplied by Fingal County Council," she said.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Tom Moffatt, said the Eastern Health Board's environmental health department was actively investigating the contamination. He said it was an unprecedented occurrence and the EHB had acted very swiftly to ensure that patients, staff and visitors were not exposed to risk following the contamination.
Dr Moffatt said there had been indications of slight traces of lead in the water used in the farmyard area of the hospital. However, tests by Fingal County Council of water from a number of locations in the hospital indicated faecal contamination in one area. Readings of the samples indicated "significant presumptive E.coli contamination in one area of the hospital".