James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses from the Commission for Energy Regulation to this meeting.

There is no doubt that CER has a monster on its hands in the form of Irish Water. For a long time I have felt that the establishment of Irish Water was tantamount to handing over an asset belonging to the people to a private entity, and there is no doubt that it was handed over in a very haphazard way. What was not taken into account was the huge number of people who set up group water schemes back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. At that time, people paid to get a scheme up and running, which cost, in poor times, anything from €200 up to €800.

The information given to the public was very unplanned. I know people who contacted Irish Water but were told to contact their local authority to deal with a leak. People do not know exactly where they stand in this regard. We need greater clarity on the matter. The system of communications with the general public is totally ineffective. The matter needs to be addressed quickly, because people are angry, and rightly so. All we have heard about since the establishment of Irish Water is the astoundingly large amount - €180 million - invested in Irish Water, what consultants got, what bonuses have been paid, etc., which has annoyed people. That is the reason there will be great difficultly in getting people to sign up to Irish Water. On my way here today I heard that fewer than 500,000 people had returned their forms, which means that 1.5 million forms are outstanding at this juncture.

It is only right that we fully scrutinise the amounts spent on Irish Water, both internally and externally. We need greater clarity because people are not receiving the information they deserve, which is why they are so angry. I would appreciate it if the CER looked at that issue and took it on board as quickly as possible. People want to know exactly what is going on, but they do not seem to be getting answers. This annoys both rural and urban dwellers.

Another issue which is causing annoyance is the installation of water meters in areas where water is undrinkable. Does the CER believe this is right? It is a very bad policy to install meters in such places because the people living there are already angry about the poor quality of their water supply. Boil notices are in operation and a company then comes along to install water meters. This issue must be addressed as soon as possible. Clear information on fixing leaks in the system must also be provided. People want to know when major investment in water and sewerage schemes will take place. It appears that nothing will happen in this regard in the foreseeable future.