Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I believe that the debate in recent days, despite the controversy involved, has been helpful to a degree in informing the public and raising awareness about the Irish utility, Uisce Éireann, otherwise known as Irish Water. I attended the environment committee meeting at which, I believe, the executives from Irish Water put on the record - it is there for all to see - their response in detail regarding the recent controversy.

Rather than the hysteria and populist soundbites that have emerged - I would expect these in the initial days from politicians and some in the media - we need to look in detail at the responses that are now on the public record. People can see for themselves the facts as they are in the proper context and why Irish Water as a national utility is needed. Furthermore, people can see the facts on where the money has been spent on introducing new customer billing and support systems and, more important, on the national asset management system for every piece of water infrastructure that exists in the country.

I note with interest that the Fianna Fáil motion criticises the lack of a national audit of water infrastructure. I agree that such an audit is required. As a member of a local authority for seven years, I represented a town that had a boil notice served on it for almost three months during the Celtic tiger years. That happened, in my area and elsewhere, because there was insufficient investment in water infrastructure. Cryptosporidium was detected in the town in which I lived and in Galway city. It almost shut down the tourism industry in that city. Just before Christmas we saw the shortages in capacity in Dublin. These developments occurred after a period in which Fianna Fáil in government assured us there had been huge investment in infrastructure. The reality is that our legacy from the previous Government was major neglect of the water supply system. We had 34 local authorities doing their best during that period, with very limited funding, to maintain a water infrastructure. They were obliged to do so on an ad hocbasis, with no critical mass efficiency, no interconnectivity across the local authority areas, no consistent maintenance plans and no modern asset management system.

With the introduction of the new national utility, Irish Water, we will, at long last, have the audit Fianna Fáil is seeking and which it failed to undertake in government. It is badly needed. We have been investing more than €1.2 billion per annum in a water infrastructure that is leaking 40% of supply into the ground. How is that sustainable? Listening to Opposition spokespeople, however, it seems they want that situation to continue. They have offered no answers as to where the investment will come from to fix leakages and ensure we have the quality water supply and sustainable networks we are all agreed are necessary. They should stop speaking out of both sides of their mouth. I understand why Members opposite would choose to engage in political point-scoring instead of considering the facts and seeking to move beyond the substandard legacy of national infrastructure this Government inherited. In the context of the criticisms to which we have been subjected in recent days, it is important to keep certain facts in mind in terms of the record of Fianna Fáil in government. More than €220 million was spent on PPARS, the inefficient IT system for the health service. Some €55 million was spent on electronic voting machines that never saw the light of day. In fact, it was this Government which acted to remove those devices from storage sheds throughout the country. That is the legacy of Fianna Fáil in government.

I have no problem with constructive criticism when it is due and fair. I accept there were questions to be addressed in terms of the establishment of Irish Water. In that context, I welcome the commitment by the Taoiseach and the executives of the new utility that there will be full transparency in respect of its operations. Its credibility will stack up as we see how it proceeds to serve taxpayers with efficiency. More than €85 million has already been saved for the taxpayer by the use of the infrastructure and expertise of Bord Gáis. That has not been acknowledged to the degree it should be. There has been a great deal of comment by Deputy Cowen and others regarding the PricewaterhouseCoopers submission that was redacted. I would have no problem with that report being published. The reality, however, is that the Minister's decision not to go with its recommendation has saved taxpayers €85 million.

I am interested in solutions, not hysteria. Irish Water, like the ESB - whose establishment in 1926 was also opposed by Fianna Fáil - can become a great national utility that will serve the people of this country well into the future.

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