Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

My concern is about the centralisation of water provision. The Minister of State mentioned the centralised situation in Northern Ireland, which the current Administration unfortunately inherited. The recent freeze showed how difficult it can be for the North's Government and local authorities to deal with such problems compared with our county council structure. For all its faults, the county council structure worked better.

I wish to highlight the position of the water services capital funding. Some counties have massive amounts of money that cannot be spent because of the European growth and stability pact. Some local authorities, including that in Laois, could have up to €40 million available but their hands are tied. The Minister of State mentioned that the service will not be privatised but there is a concern that if it is centralised, privatisation may come further down the line. The Minister of State need not repeat himself on that.

Will the Minister of State provide the estimated cost of putting meters into households? The period mentioned was three years. We should stop the leaks in the system, upgrade infrastructure and be able to use some of the money that local authorities cannot now use. The Government probably has more detailed figures than I do but my understanding is that tens of millions of euro is available to local authorities which cannot be spent because of the European pact. That is a significant problem and the introduction of water charges can be a diversion in getting people to pay more tax. The previous Government put a figure of €1 billion on the process, which would in turn be used to pay some of the money we are now borrowing to plug the holes in the banks.

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