Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We can all get lost in figures relating to leakage and so on. I acknowledge the work Ms Kennedy has done on this project, which is a personal crusade she has taken on, and the volume of information she has presented to us. Anything I say will not be critical of what she has presented. Water quality, supply and leakage have been referred to in detail but, at the end of the day, if we fix 100% of the leaks, which is probably not possible or never will be possible, and fix the Vartry water supply - I live beside it and I have dealt with the algae bloom year in, year out - with the work commencing to fix that now, additional water will still be needed in 15 or 20 years, regardless of what anybody says. Sir John Hawkshaw and Sir John Gray sat somewhere in Dublin 150 years ago and decided to build the Vartry reservoir, which we are still using today. They tried to secure a deal with the canal owners at the time because there was no security of supply from the canals and they built the reservoir. In 2018, we need to have the vision those men had to secure a water supply not only for Dublin but for the surrounding areas as well. Nobody at this meeting knows what the population will be or the volume of commercial water that will be needed but in my heart and soul, regardless of how many leaks are fixed and how much our current supply improves, we still will not have sufficient water to deal with increasing need into the future. We are being asked to make similar decisions to those made by those two men 150 years ago. I could get lost in figures and go backwards and forwards to argue about waste, supply, population and demand but, at the end of the day, we need a secure supply of water for the country. I thank Ms Kennedy for the effort she has put in. I will not debate the figures because we need to secure the supply of water now and into the future.