An Independent TD is claiming that EU and government red tape is preventing Irish Water from carrying out improvements to a water scheme that serves 10,000 people from Lough Talt in the West Sligo area.
Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice says the lake is now a special area of conservation because of a species of snail that lives on the foreshore.
But he adds that efforts by Irish Water to build a new treatment plant has been turned down by Sligo County Council and An Bord Pleanala.
He claims Irish Water's application for a water extraction licence has been refused even though water is being taken from the lake for the past 40 years.
Deputy Fitzmaurice is now asking if bureaucracy and a species of a snail is more important than the health of people:
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