John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)

If there is any time left when I have finished, I would like to pass it on to Deputy Dowds.

Before all these young people in the Visitors' Gallery leave, I will point out that they probably know more about conserving water than most of us in the House through the green flag system. I was recently at a school that received a green flag for water conservation. It is appropriate that there were young people in the Visitors' Gallery while we were discussing this. They probably could have told us a thing or two we would not have known. I hope the debate was meaningful for them.

I am happy to speak on this motion, which requires a lot of debate. I agree with many aspects of the Sinn Féin motion, particularly in that it highlights the challenges we face in maintaining a secure and safe water supply. However, guaranteeing a safe and secure water supply requires sustained investment and, as we already know, water is very expensive to obtain, treat and deliver. An example of this is the Dublin system. It is estimated that approximately €1 billion is needed over the next ten years to keep the existing supply going. It is also recommended that between 10% and 20% is needed in reserve to deal with potential losses due to events such as the bad weather we had over the last two winters. A recent report by the RPS group about the Dublin City Council water supply states the water supply in the greater Dublin area is on a knife-edge. Projections show that demand will outstrip supply within the next ten to 12 years.

It is clear from that message that we need to do something about our water supply. Most people in the Chamber are in agreement with that. The most important thing we need is a co-ordinated approach to increased conservation and sustained investment if we want to tackle our current and future water supply problems. If we are to do that, we need money. Investment in water supply will cost money. Let us get real. We have a budget shortfall of €18 billion for this year. As a State, we currently cannot provide basic services such as policing, nurses and teachers, nor pay the salaries of the general public service. If we are to have an adequate 21st century water supply we need to find a way of achieving this, and it will involve some sort of charge. Everybody here must face up to that.

We were not the ones who decided to do this. It is interesting that nobody from the Fianna Fáil Government is here today.

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