Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to intervene. What you say is true but was there not an obvious deficiency in the infrastructure as it existed at the time? I have been tabling Dáil questions for at least 25 years asking when there would be a fundamental reappraisal of the water requirements in the country, as one piece of that infrastructure. When were we going to have adequate storage, adequate and reliable transmission and adequate supply? How could we utilise and harvest the water that is flooding the land in the Shannon basin and bring it to an area where it could be redistributed? That was never done. Whatever we may say about Irish Water, the system was in tatters. I am afraid that many of our infrastructural supply lines are in an equally vulnerable position. We must remember that in 15 years from now, almost all motor cars will be driven by electricity in this country. They will have to be if we are to meet the carbon targets.