Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Keohane for his presentation. There is no doubt he is very well qualified and has a long history of dealing with companies. There are a lot of challenges, particularly with regard to Irish Water. Mr. Keohane knows of the review that will take place and the challenges that will throw up, whatever way it goes. He could not have come in at a worse time, given there is going to be a lot of controversy in the coming months.

With regard to the gas network, there is the question of how long the Scotland-Ireland interconnector will last, given we will then have to find new sources of gas. Although Mr. Keohane may not be fully in position yet, can he tell us how long the current arrangement can last and where it will take us, as this is likely to be an awful challenge in the future?

There are huge challenges in regard to Irish Water. There is the plan to bring water to Dublin from the midlands, which has been and will be very controversial. I have been at many presentations on this in the recent past and I found it very difficult, particularly for the areas along the Shannon we have been talking about. I would like to know how is Ervia going to handle the consultation process.

I have always been opposed to the idea of the local authorities losing control in this area. Whether we like it or not, this will come back on the agenda at some stage. Many powers have been transferred to Irish Water and I have always felt this was a step backwards. Our biggest problem was funding for local authorities. This will be a big challenge. I am not asking Mr. Keohane for an opinion as he will not necessarily be able to give a response, but it is my opinion that this was a big mistake. We have wasted a huge amount of money in the transfer to Irish Water, in particular the money spent on consultancies and paying people. The whole set-up has been a disaster, and we have seen this in the numbers on the streets, with 60,000 to 80,000 people on the streets the other day. It is not going to go away and Mr. Keohane will probably be thrown into this in some way.