Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Some €200 million has been spent in the past six or seven years on the rehabilitation of mains and pipe networks, with an additional €120 million allocated for this purpose this year and next. I am surprised the Deputy is not supporting this water conservation programme. I am in support of clean water, but one can only conclude, on the basis of his attitude to the septic tank provisions, that he is opposed to it. The reality is that water leakage on the customer side is not being caught, with substantial losses arising in all local authority areas. That is totally unacceptable. Our objective is to address this issue by eliminating fragmentation and establishing a single public water utility to deal with these matters once. That will ensure we have adequate quantities of quality water for consumers, particularly on the east coast where a water shortage will develop if we do not plan for it now. I am determined, together with Bord Gáis and my Government colleagues, that we will do this in the shortest period of time, notwithstanding the difficulties and hiccups that will inevitably arise along the way.

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