Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Water services are to be provided by the same staff, who will have a second master in terms of Irish Water and additional staff at a call centre operated by a company in Cork that has come to fame in the past year or two and not for the best reasons. This means that money that should be spent on fixing leaks in the system will now be spent on the creation of this new super-structure. Up to now calls were taken by a clerk in the area office. Under the new system a councillor will, as a I predicted a year and a half ago, have to contact the call centre to report a burst pipe that is half or quarter of a mile from his or her house or on the same street as his or her house. The Minister, in creating this structure, is creating something that is not needed. The responsibility should be retained by the local authorities.