Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael proposed this motion in recognition of the hardship that has been caused by water restrictions and disruptions during the recent cold weather. Our outdated and inefficient way of dealing with these problems contributed to this social and economic hardship. The lack of water conservation measures allows too much water to escape from an inadequate network of pipes. When we previously raised this issue in January 2010, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicated that he intended to take action to remedy the problems but no new initiative has been introduced since then. In preparing the motion, I had an opportunity to review the debate between Fine Gael Members and the Minister on similar issues resulting from last winter's flooding and severe weather. The Minister indicated then that he would reallocate resources to deal with water conservation and unidentified leaks. Given that he made the same statement on this occasion, I presume the €300 million he proposes to spend is the same money he announced 12 months ago.

These problems have been coming down the tracks for quite some time but there has been no planning on the part of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to deal with them. We have experienced several harsh winters, the likes of which many younger people have not previously witnessed. The shoddy workmanship during the building boom of the Celtic tiger era has been exposed by these recent weather patterns. It is now evident that the quality of building materials and our pipe network, as well as the supervision of workmanship under the building regulations, is inadequate and caused unnecessary hardship.

People are increasingly becoming accustomed to the notion that water is a finite resource that cannot be taken for granted. In the past, people left taps running, washed their cars or allowed water to flow indiscriminately around their properties. The State can no longer fund inadequate conservation of water by businesses and households. In the Dublin region alone, considerable planning will be required to develop a more certain supply of water from the River Shannon to cope with the inability of the eastern region to guarantee the water supplies needed to underpin future economic development. It is unacceptable that water supplies have not yet been restored to certain parts of Dublin city and elsewhere in the country three weeks after the crisis arose. The Minister and his Department have clearly failed to work with local authorities to plan for this issue.

Local authorities' outdoor staff have gone beyond the call of duty over the past several weeks in order to help local communities. They came out on Christmas Day to restore water supplies for vulnerable people. They are to be praised and lauded for the work they have done in appalling conditions. That, however, should not allow us to forget that leadership is required from the Department if we are to restore water supplies within a reasonable timeframe. We should be able to learn lessons from the past two winters of severe cold weather. The Minister has not learned anything from the winter of 2009-10 because he has not implemented any new initiative that would deal with the problems arising this winter. I suppose we will see action eventually.

Fine Gael put forward proposals 18 months ago to set out a new way of dealing with capacity issues and meeting our obligations under the water framework directive in order to avoid fines for poor water quality. Sewerage treatment plants cannot be allowed to continue pouring waste materials into our streams and rivers. Local authorities and the Department have failed to ensure good quality ground water and allowed this type of indiscriminate release of waste. A different approach is required to the current structure of 34 separate entities if we are to meet our obligations under the directive. We must acknowledge that the current way of doing business is not providing good quality supplies of water to the citizens and businesses of this country. The Government has belatedly acknowledged this problem in so far as it is mentioned in the memorandum of understanding between Ireland, the IMF and the EU. We will be required to attract investment into the water services programme. Fine Gael's proposals have, therefore, been favoured by the Government, the IMF and the EU.

However, the question that arises is when the Minister will finally come to the same conclusion. He alleges that we will privatise water supplies. I assure the House this is far from our intention. We want to keep the pipe network in public ownership because we are well aware of what happened to telecommunications when Eircom was ravaged by investors to the detriment of the citizen and the service. The company's failure to implement the promises made before its privatisation was due to a failure of regulation.

Fine Gael wants to restore good quality and consistent water supplies. Much of the water pipe network dates back to the Victorian era and will have to be renovated or replaced. Considerable infrastructural investment will be required if we are to modernise our systems and it will be a challenge for any future Government to provide the necessary resources over the coming years. We have identified funds from the NPRF and private sources that can be invested in a new semi-State entity called Irish water, with local authorities acting as agents in providing an essential part of our infrastructure. If we do not have good quality telecommunications services, transport networks and water systems, we will not be able to provide a good quality of life to our citizens or a business environment that provides employment.

I regret that the Government will be proposing an amendment to this motion because it was tabled with the intention of providing a constructive opportunity for agreement on a policy that has been forced on us by the IMF and the EU. For political reasons, the Minister was unable to allow the House to show unity on the provision of good quality water through prioritised investment over the coming years. Given that establishing a single publicly owned water utility company is now Government policy, I cannot understand why he cannot accept our proposal. A new utilities commission would merge existing regulators, of which, God knows, we have a lot even if some of them forgot to regulate in the past. We would support the Government if it took responsibility for regulating a new water utility regime. We would investigate the ways resources could be allocated in such a way that would meet the immediate demands of the citizen in terms of restoration of water supply and having a good quality supply while also eliminating unidentified leaks.

Water conservation measures have been successful in parts of Dublin but have not been as successful in other parts of the country given the figures produced showing that, on average, 43% of water escapes into the ground in unidentified leaks. That has been going on for a long time. Therefore, one must question how the resources which have been allocated in the past have been deployed and have had such poor effect, especially outside Dublin, in identifying leaks and implementing water conservation measures.

We have tabled this motion to highlight the difficulties the citizen has had this winter. People have had the same problems in the previous winter but the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government does not seem to have a plan as to how we will minimise the impact on the citizen and businesses over the next few years. It seems clear that we will have the same difficult winter conditions for the foreseeable future and we must be able to plan effectively for them.

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