Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's statement of confidence in the existing staff of various water services bodies across the country. Many of his ministerial colleagues speaking in recent days have given the impression that we have a water service similar to Calcutta, which is not the truth. Water services staff in local authorities across the country, many of whom have migrated over to Irish Water, have delivered excellent service in very difficult conditions, particularly in recent weeks.

The notion of a single unitary authority is dependent on 34 service-level agreements with all the local authorities that some of the Minister's colleagues are keen to distance themselves from. Those agreements will continue for 12 years. There is nothing unified about a structure that is utterly dependent on service-level agreements for 12 years even though the Minister claims he has brought it all together so quickly.

The Minister has chosen not to answer many questions. Irish Water was established as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Energy because Bord Gáis Energy could bring existing resources to the party. Nobody criticised any individuals in Bord Gáis Energy; that was the offer that we were made.

See this speech in context