Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The depression of the 1930s in the United States was probably worse than the present depression. That country worked its way out of it by applying the philosophy of John Maynard Keynes. The top priority was the creation of employment which led to growth and eventually to a balanced budget.

I know the Minister is focused on job creation, but does he not think the Government is putting budget balancing ahead of job creation and that its priority is to balance the budget and get the figures right? I do not say that is the Minister's priority but it seems to be the overall priority of the Government.

The failure to fix the leaks in the water infrastructure was not due to the lack of Irish Water. There was a State decision not to deal with the problem. I hope Irish Water fixes the leaks before it installs meters. One would not need to be a rocket scientist or a businessman to see that if we are losing almost 45% of our water it would be a very good business decision to stop the leaks before the meters are installed.

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