The mayor of Galway yesterday reacted strongly to criticism by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche of the local authority over the water crisis.
"I think there were some catastrophic management errors in Galway over the years," Mr Roche said. "I think that there was a serious problem with the operation of the Terryland plant.
"But, as in every other local authority, to be fair to the current people in place, they weren't necessarily in place a few years ago.
"One of the issues that have to be learned from this is how you more quickly respond to an emergency, because there is an emergency down there, there is no doubt about that."
However, Galway mayor Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party) said Mr Roche could "not avoid blame over the fiasco", which had left 90,000 Galway residents without a clean water supply for almost a month.
"The Minister said that disastrous mistakes made by council management over a number of years caused this crisis. Dick Roche seems to be forgetting that, as the Minister responsible for local government, those same officials on whom he is now trying to lay blame are answerable to him and to him alone. The buck ultimately stops with Minister Roche," Cllr Ó Brolcháin said.
"There is no doubt that the unelected officials in charge of capital spending - and the infamous €21.5 million designated for the upgrade of the Terryland water- treatment plant - have dragged their feet," Cllr Ó Brolcháin added.
"Since being elected to Galway City Council in 2004 I have done my utmost to speed up the deployment of adequate water services for the people of the city, and to ensure that water quality in Lough Corrib was up to scratch.
"If we look at the probable causes of the cryptosporidium outbreak, rather than focusing solely on Galway's grossly inadequate water-treatment facilities, it becomes even more evident that the fingerprints of Minister Roche and his Cabinet colleagues are all over this mess," he continued.
"Water quality in Lough Corrib, which is the source of Galway city's water supply, has been continuously and seriously degraded over the lifetime of this Government."
Cllr Ó Brolcháin said that, while he welcomed moves by the city council to subsidise bottled water, he would not be happy until the water was "flowing, cleanly, out of taps in Galway city". He also welcomed efforts to provide water vouchers for senior citizens on pensions, and social welfare recipients.
Galway City Council has defended its decision to offer subsidised water bottled by one local mineral water company at designated retail outlets. City council director of services Ciarán Hayes said that it was responding to a short-term emergency.
"If we were in a long-term situation, we would be putting it out to tender,"he said.
No new cases of cryptosporidiosis were notified in Galway yesterday and reported cases still stand at 180, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE) West.
Galway City Council also says that test results for the Terryland water-treatment works are "encouraging", in that levels of the cryptosporidium parasite are "negligible".
However, the "boil water" notice will remain in place until such time as public health medical officials advise otherwise, a HSE West spokesman emphasised.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued Limerick County Council with a direction that it must prepare an action plan in relation to nitrate levels in its water supply.
