Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has stated successive Governments spent lots of money in trying to fix the leaks from the pipes. In reality, neither the previous Government nor this one spent any money on fixing the pipes. Almost 12 months ago when I asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, whether he would fix the pipes before he started spending money on installing meters, he stated absolutely, even if it cost €500 million. Wastewater services will remain within the remit of Irish Water, but local authorities want to deal with pollution. Is this fair, given that it seems local authorities will be cleaning up after problems created by Irish Water's failure to deal with wastewater properly? Responsibility for surface water will remain with local authorities. We all know flooding will be a big factor in the future and is unpredictable. Does the private sector not have an appetite to deal with the unpredictable such as water problems?

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