Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McNamara has this utterly wrong. I will give an example from my experience. The Deputy's party is part of the Government but I sat as part of the Opposition for a number of years, and in that time we ensured that representatives of Irish Rail came in week after week before an Oireachtas committee in order to deal with issues like audits and other operational issues germane and important to elected representatives and the Oireachtas as a whole. In fairness, then Senator Ross and I pursued the matter with great vigour. It is wrong to say that Uisce Éireann will not be accountable to the House. As a Deputy I had every opportunity to bring officials from similar companies before committees time and again, and as a member of such a committee there was no bar to the questioning. In fairness to the Irish Rail representatives, they came in time and again.

Deputy McNamara's contribution has also lost sight of the fact that there is a 12-year service level agreement between Clare County Council and Uisce Éireann. For each one of those 12 long years, Clare County Council will be carrying on its functions for Uisce Éireann, acting as its agent. Every councillor sitting on an elected body in County Clare can at any meeting raise any issues he or she likes. As I have already stated, he or she will also have a dedicated person on the county council who will deal solely with water services to answer any questions. If the elected representative is dissatisfied with this - as is his or her entitlement - there is the option to ring Uisce Éireann on a dedicated line. He or she would have absolute access to all information at all times. Uisce Éireann must consult with all elected authorities and have due regard to the development and regional plans. There is also a national picture. The Deputy is wrong on all counts.

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