Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know of someone who lives in a valley with no mobile service and who has not had a telephone since 12 December, over one month ago. The same thing is going to happen under the system the Government has put in place, because when there is a centralised system we can be certain that investment in the parts furthest out and in the hardest terrain will be the last to get the service.

I was dealing with this issue until the Government pulled the plug on the scheme. There was a scheme under the CLÁR programme. We were bringing water to people in the last houses in the country. They have been dependent on wells but want water, like everyone else has it, through a pipe from mains with a proper treatment system. We were doing it. At little expense to the State we were finishing this problem off once and for all because I believe water is a basic right.

I seem to remember a certain Mr. Gilmore, whom the Minister of State may have heard of - he may have met him on his travels around Government Buildings - said he was against water charges because water was a necessity. He said he always believed essential services such as water should be delivered as a public service. However, the Government has refused to give that basic public service to people in the remaining houses in the country who are dependent on wells of variable quality or on streams from hills for a supply. Often, they suffer from the problem of bad quality water and an intermittent supply if they get a drought.

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