John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

We are spending an unprecedented amount of money and I hope Deputy Hogan appreciates it. The Fine Gael NewERA document also refers to its plan to "facilitate more rapid urban development when the property market recovers by investing an additional €1 billion in extra water delivery and waste water infrastructure for high density urban residential and commercial development, with a particular focus on NSS hubs and gateways". This Government carried out a root and branch review of the water services investment programme in 2010 and has already committed to advancing 100 water and wastewater contracts in the greater Dublin area and in the national spatial strategy gateways and hubs to the value of almost €800 million in addition to water conservation measures in all of these areas.

The NewERA document also refers to a plan to "ease the cost burden on Irish businesses by delivering economies of scale in the costs of operating and upgrading Ireland's water infrastructure (by putting the water operations and investments of the 34 local authorities under one roof) and by spreading the cost of water investment over 30 years". The Government recognises the importance of ensuring a good quality, reliable and competitively priced water service is provided to all consumers and the appointment of an economic regulator, which we are proposing, will be a key factor in ensuring this.

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