Ms Mindy O'Brien:

We need to look at this in a holistic manner. What we are drinking out of the tap is coming from the source water and we have to protect that source water. We have to get our people out in the areas to understand that. The problem with Irish Water was that it was a diktat and people were told what to do - they had to pay. They did not feel part of it, they did not feel engaged and they did not feel ownership of the water. People need to have that sort of ownership and guardianship over water and source water protection. By creating this Public Water Forum with a grander remit than Irish Water, and one that reaches over the whole water resource, this can feed into the Government approach. Right now, the Government has many different Departments handling water, including the Departments of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the OPW, which deals with flooding, the fisheries bodies, the local authorities and the ESB, with all of them dealing with the one resource. To have just one organisation could unify the communication so there would be a holistic approach to water protection.