Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

This is a very important debate. We are arranging for the implementation programme to be debated by the committee as soon as it is available so that every member of the Oireachtas who wishes will have an opportunity to go through all of the issues in an open-ended way. There will be no time limit on that debate such as there is on this one. It is important to discuss the issues and answer all of the questions Deputies have and to put questions to them also on value for money, on whether we want to conserve our water as Deputy Murphy rightly and properly argued and on the vision the Minister, Deputy Hogan, has for the future of our water services and the country's capacity and ability to be the best in Europe in terms of reducing waste water. We must repair the leaks and pipes and get water to the greater Dublin area so the region has the ability to meet future domestic and commercial demands.

The recent census report for the north-east where I live shows Drogheda is the biggest town in the country with Dundalk being slightly smaller. There has been massive growth in the region north of the greater Dublin area. If we are to sustain this we must have the infrastructure in place. Our vision is to be the best in Europe. We are not standing back or resiling from this. We want to ensure we have the capacity to deliver water. Water intensive industries such as agriculture and pharmaceutical and chemical industries are coming to this country. They need water and we want to be the best place to supply it.

Within the past month I was in England where there is a drought in the Anglia area. We have significant advantages in terms of being water rich if we can stop the waste and ensure places that do not have the capacity to deliver the water required by 2020 will have it as a result of what we do. This is about the big picture and the big issues we must face. Deputy Murphy's home county of Kildare has the lowest charge for commercial water in the country at €1.50.

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