David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In any event, the House spent 19 hours debating what became the Water Services Act 2013. I spent the vast majority of that time asking the Minister of State questions. He might remember that I was scolded by Government Senators for asking the same questions over and over again. Those questions related to the transfer of assets from local authorities to Irish Water. In the context of the set-up costs relating to Irish Water, I asked specific questions in respect of salaries, top-up payments and bonuses and I was informed that there would not be any top-up payments or bonuses.

I also asked questions on the cost of water and in respect of what people will be obliged to pay. I did not receive the information I requested and I stated at the time that I would not buy a pig in a poke. I am glad I made that comment because I was in the right. I also stated that I was proud of the fact that I had placed the same questions on the record over and over again, even if I was not receiving answers in respect of them. I also stated that we would be obliged to come back to this matter. I did not think it would be necessary for us to return to it so quickly and that the Minister of State would have to come before the House again in order to answer questions on Irish Water.

It is a scandal that the amount of money involved has been spent on consultants, particularly when we were informed that Irish Water was being established to save money. The company is actually costing us money, particularly when one considers the amount that is, in my view, being wasted on consultants. We were informed that Bord Gáis would oversee matters because it had the expertise necessary to do so. Irish Water has, however, bought in the expertise of consultants, some of which were responsible - as Senator Barrett stated - for bringing down certain banks. People are just scandalised by the waste of money involved and by the fact that in Irish Water we have established a new quango. Consultants have already been paid and bonuses are going to be paid but we still do not know how much the bloody water is going to cost people. The Government still will not provide that information. It is just scandalous that the Government is behaving in this way and that it will not give the people of this State - who know how much money has been wasted - the information they require.

I genuinely believe the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should resign, particularly as he has presided over too many debacles. I am aware that he may well end up being a member of the EU Commission at some point but I am of the view that he should go now because what has happened in this instance is a scandal. While the House engaged in a good debate on the legislation, it was rushed through the Dáil. The Opposition in the Lower House walked out as a result of the amount of time allocated for the debate on it there. The questions we have asked have not been answered to our satisfaction. We have stated as much on numerous occasions and we have been proven right. It is the same old story today. One hour has been allocated for this debate - I know that is not the Minister of State's fault - and, as a result, we have not been given sufficient time to again pose the questions to which I refer. That is another mistake on the Government's part.

In the five minutes available to him, I do not expect the Minister of State to be in a position to answer all of the questions that have been posed. He will not be able to do so. That again proves my point, namely, that we are not giving this issue the time it merits, particularly in light of the debacle which has occurred and the furore among members of the public as a result of the way in which Irish Water was established and the way money has been wasted on consultants.