Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you.

Our water supplies are one of our most important national resources. While Ireland has an abundance of water, it is expensive and it costs €1.2 billion per year to run. The current service is inefficient. Even at this cost to the taxpayer, the water network has suffered from severe under-investment by previous Administrations. The creation of a national water utility company has many benefits. Most importantly, this new approach will facilitate the doubling of capital investment in the system, resulting in better quality water services and more jobs.

The Minister of State has welcomed the full disclosure by Irish Water of its detailed establishment costs. When we look at figures, they are huge numbers, but I will compare it later with other bodies that have been set up and that cost a lot more. The energy regulator has already deemed most of the projected costs to be reasonable, and it is undertaking to do a more detailed review. I look forward to that more detailed review, and only efficient costs will be allowed in the water budget. Any inefficient costs will have to be clawed back in future from Irish Water, and the regulator will see to that.

The €150 million spent to establish a modern, well run utility, providing water through a single national utility, will yield €2 billion in savings by 2021. I have not heard that mentioned too often. The €150 million investment to set up Irish Water represents just 1% of the cost of providing the water service in the next decade. Alternatively, are we going to keep spending €1 billion in an inefficient way of providing services through the 34 authorities? Colm McCarthy has been very critical on some stages, but he said last week in the Irish Independent that "the suggestion that the Minister for the Environment should resign having failed to 'micro-manage' the new water company is, on a moment's solitary reflection, simply ludicrous". Asking a Minister to micro-manage a system, when accountability is------