Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's officials referred to an annual saving of €1.1 billion over seven years. The Minister said it would be €2 billion, which points to a difference of €900 million. It is costing roughly €1.2 billion at present. Over seven years, this will amount to €8.4 billion. The Minister is saying he will save €2 billion. I asked him before how he would do that because he has created a macro-structure on top of what exists already, with 500 extra employees, call centres and God knows what else. How will it be cheaper given all the investment? Why is the Taoiseach on a different page from the Minister? Why are officials on a different page? I know the page I am on because when I calculate the current investment and analyse the structure of Uisce Éireann, I realise it cannot be less expensive. The iron laws of economics show it will be more expensive.

What I am asking about regarding the expenditure on Uisce Éireann is simple. We know the position of the Comptroller and Auditor General on accessing information. As the Minister said many times, this will be a stand-alone utility, a stand-alone commercial entity. Both he and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, said it many times in the Chamber. It was obvious at the time where they were going with this. When will the utility be subject to FOI mechanisms?

Can the table of expenditure be set out in a clear form for 2013? No more than a page or two is required. It would demonstrate to me and the public exactly what has happened. How much was spent last year on leaks? This is related to a question I have already asked. How much will be spent fixing leaks this year? Some 40% of the water is lost through leaks. I understand some good work has been done in Dublin on fixing leaks over recent years. I understand we cannot reduce leakage to zero. The Germans have probably gone as far towards zero as possible and their leakage percentage is still in double figures. However, if we could halve the number of leaks over the coming years, we would save a substantial amount of money, or several hundred million euro, in terms of water provision.

There is talk of new sources but there is no point pumping water from a new source into a leaking system. I have heard no talk to date about leaks being fixed. I have heard all about where the €180 million was spent, and we know about the call centres and other facilities that must be set up. If we could fix half the leaks, we would be going somewhere.

My last question relates to the building regulations and is directed at both the Minister and the Minister of State at his Department with responsibility for water. I accept that we cannot empty material from hardware shops and ask suppliers to get rid of stock, particularly in the current economic climate. However, I am asking the Minister to put in place new building regulations related to water harvesting and conservation. All new builds should have water harvesting and water conservation facilities. The home improvement tax incentive scheme introduced in the last budget is to be welcomed and could be linked into the retrofitting of older houses with water harvesting and water conservation equipment. Then, once older stock has been used up in hardware shops, dual-flush toilets can become the norm, along with other measures that will save water. I am making a serious proposal here. There are lots of simple measures that can be used to save water and we should not long-finger this issue. We should start to examine this now, in a serious way. The Department, this committee, the Dáil, local authorities and those who police the building regulations should focus on this now. New regulations should be put in place so that when the stock that is there is used up, we will introduce dual-flush toilets and water harvesting equipment, particularly in larger commercial buildings and new public buildings. No new public building should be built without water harvesting facilities. Thousands of gallons of water are running off roofs and we need to catch that water and use it.