Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They will find it difficult to have a voice at a national level with an unelected agency ensuring water supplies.

I note the absence of any mention in the Bill of the 145,000 households which do not have either a group water scheme or a mains water supply. I was making huge progress to deal with that issue when I was Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. With the CLÁR top-ups, we were rapidly ticking off the remaining parts of the country which remained dependent on wells of varying quality and quantity. If the Government had continued with the CLÁR programme of top-ups for group water schemes, every house, within reason, would have had access to either a good quality group scheme or the public supply. The Government does not care about the 10% again. They are not on the agenda at any time. They can fend for themselves. These are people who traditionally have been very willing to pay a reasonable contribution for their water supply.

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