Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I thank speakers on all sides of the House for contributing to this debate. The number of speakers who have outlined their own constituency experiences with regard to water issues is a clear indication of the fact that this is a very serious problem for many public representatives. It has been a problem for a considerable period of time. People now realise that water is a finite resource which has often been taken for granted. However, this will not happen any longer, particularly in light of the conditions experienced this winter and last winter when people were forced to buy bottled water in supermarkets at significant cost to family budgets and businesses. The inconvenience of having to collect water from tankers in major urban areas brings home to people the importance of water as a resource in our daily and working lives.

In the spirit of acknowledging those difficulties suffered by business and households, Fine Gael has brought forward a constructive motion that sets out a solution. It is very rare to have such unanimity in the House about a problem and very rare to get a Government amendment to an Opposition motion that is quite similar to the motion. However, for political reasons, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government could not bring himself to accept the Fine Gael proposition. It is time to agree a motion along the lines of our motion, to agree there is a problem with the provision of water under the existing structures, that the 34 local authorities are doing the best they can in order to paper over the cracks in the system. However, there is a need for a new agency or a new structure to bring it all together under one roof by means of an Irish water holding company that will provide the necessary investment and can draw money from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and also include private sector investment so that local authorities can be the agents for the rolling out of the essential water infrastructure that is now required. We cannot put this off because otherwise we will be fined by the European Commission for not meeting our obligations under the EU framework directive. We are better off investing in a better water system than to have council officials trying to cover themselves in glory on the file to ensure that when the court cases arise in 2015 or 2016, all they will say in court in their own defence is that they did not get the money from the Department and they did the best they could, within their own resources, to deal with these problems, as detailed in the files.

It is soul-destroying for directors of services who are in charge of water services to have to give those excuses in a court. We need to avoid this situation by investing in a four to five year programme which is concerted and organised and with one structure, a properly regulated authority. The State needs to provide an essential infrastructural product called water which is of good quality and provided in an efficient manner without the loss of 43% of it from unidentified leaks. Water is an important and expensive resource which is expensive to treat. It should not be taken for granted and Fine Gael does not take it for granted. I ask the Government and the Minister of State to agree to this motion and to allow us to go forward in a united way to solve this problem once and for all, namely, the provision of good quality water supply.

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