Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When debating this topic before Christmas I made the point that water is a right. While Ireland supports the right of people in the developing world to access to clean water a different attitude is being taken to the right of Irish people in this regard, with it simply being viewed as a commodity from which profit can be made. The legislation rushed through this House prior to Christmas was all about profit rather than service provision.

I welcome this opportunity for further discussion on this issue, as sufficient time for discussion on it was not provided prior to Christmas. In my view, the motion should have included an acknowledgement of the work of Sean O'Rourke. We might not have had as much information as we now have but for the role of the media in this matter. This situation is akin to the line from a Laurel and Hardy film of "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into." The common denominator between all of the big developments in this country, including the DART, Luas, the hospitals, the motorways and the Poolbeg incinerator, is the massive overspend and waste of public money in each case. Had any of these developments taken place in another country they would not have cost as much as they did here.

We have all heard of the amount of overspend to date. It appears that Irish Water has organised the bonuses for people working in Irish Water before any of the service it is supposed to provide has been put in place. Issues also arise in regard to its employees in terms of the manner in which they are employed, whether they are subject to the same conditions and pension levies etc as are other people in the public service and what people will be paying for. Our current system is ancient and leaking and produces poor quality water. There was a great deal of flooding again last year in Dublin central and other parts of the country. This was caused by our antiquated water infrastructure, which dates back to Victorian times. One can only imagine what could have been done with the already massive overspend in respect of Irish Water. The insurance issue has still not been resolved and money continues to be spent on fluoridation of our water although there is no evidence to support that that is absolutely necessary.

The two key words continually mentioned are "accountability" and "transparency" but these are still not in action.

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