Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State might clarify the figures given yesterday at the Oireachtas environment committee. These amounted to in excess of €180 million and an additional €15 million. The Minister of State might clarify where that €15 million is being spent. They were the figures given to our environment spokesperson, Deputy Barry Cowen, at an environment committee meeting in the House this week.

The Minister of State might provide information on that.

The Minister of State can blame whoever he likes for the establishment of Irish Water, but when Fine Gael was in opposition, it stated in its manifesto at the time that a new utility company would be established. It was not determined by the troika, and it certainly was not the policy of Fianna Fáil, because we did not want to see a new utility company established, or a new structure like Bord Gáis put in place. There was a structure for charging at local authority level, through the local councils and the local councillors but of course that was not good enough and a new structure had to be put in place. We see that now as a runaway train with huge costs and an organisation with almost 300 employees. Before it takes in one single cent, it is paying bonuses of 10% on average to each of those employees.