Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

However, now only 29 people can apply for the grant if they fail the inspection. That was the biggest con job ever, and this is another one. The Government is spinning, spinning and spinning.

When I was boy walking home from school, I could see the great visionaries who came together to provide group water schemes in rural areas. They do not know what will happen to their scheme now. They pioneered the scheme, drew down the grants, collected money, did the work and maintained it since. Now they are in uncharted waters - pardon the pun - with this Bill and do not know what will happen.

Will there be any transparency and accountability? I have spoken to many staff in the local authorities and they do not have a clue. The biggest fear for staff in the service in south Tipperary is whether this will be signed before 1 January. If it goes into the unknown, the Minister of State will be here announcing it again in four years, because this has been announced by previous Governments as well. I announced it myself once or twice, but I learned from my mistake not to announce the granting of money when nothing happens. We want to see the excavators on the ground the pipe laying being carried out.

We are seeing some remedial work in the Fethard area, which is welcome. The amount or burst pipes is unreal, but at least there were local contacts that we could call. Will we get through now to answering machines like when we call the HSE? Who are we going to get the information from? As far as I can see, the Government wants to get water for Dublin from the country and to hell with those outside the Pale.

I appeal to the Minister of State to back off from this. It is not properly thought out. The people who drafted it obviously had a difficult task, but it is not reflecting the views and the needs of the people. People who are farming in my area cannot use the water because it would fail every test. Businesses cannot use it because it is unfit for consumption - they are paying for it, yet they cannot get money to sink wells. It is an awful situation, but it is not all the Minister of State's fault as this is ongoing. I lay a lot of the blame at the door of the Department and the lethargic efforts it made over the years to deal with these issues. We commission a consultant's report, send it back down to the council after six months, get another consultant's report and send it back again. It is a merry-go-round and a money machine for consultants. It has been hijacked by consultant after consultant. Uisce Éireann seems to be a rest home for retired county managers, some of them with a chequered history as well. There will be more of them in the agency. It is more jobs for the boys; another CRC as far as I can see. We need honesty, openness and transparency and we need the public to have water to shower, wash and drink. That is a basic human right and they have been denied that for years. I appeal to the Minister of State to back off from this, and to give me a date for the turning of the sod and the contract. I will provide the shovel and even the JCB if necessary.

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