Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I refer to the proposal to set up a single water authority in the State. Currently, that is the situation in the Six Counties. The Minister of State will be aware of the difficulties faced by elected representatives in the North when trying to deal with the problems during the big freeze last winter. We made cheap jibes about this in an earlier debate but despite the best efforts of all elected representatives in the North, a single body at arm's length from government and local and national elected representatives can cause problems.

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