Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With a minute remaining, I find the Taoiseach's response to be incredible in terms of the bonus. Basically, what he is saying is that the bonus culture is back, and it is alive and well in Irish Water, and the Taoiseach and the Government approved it, despite what the Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, and the Minister, Deputy Howlin, said. I asked the Taoiseach a simple question: why did he approve it? He knew about this but he went against his own advice. The Taoiseach said the estimate was that it would be cheaper. The opposite is the case. The advice the Taoiseach got from PricewaterhouseCoopers was that it would be far more expensive to set up Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis. That was the actual advice, and that has proven to be the case. A total of €168 million, and €2 million on bonuses, will go to the staff. They all said they were against bonuses-----

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