Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not know to what dogs the Deputy has been talking on the street, but I assure her that there will be no privatisation of water services by the Government. Although I do not know, perhaps she might support a future Government in that regard and may have something in mind. All I can do is to set out what is the current and the future position of the two parties in government on Irish Water. There will be no privatisation.

The Government carried out a highly detailed analysis - not just that contained in the PwC report - of water services. It is making a significant investment in respect of the quantities and quality required for the Deputy's constituency, the greater Dublin area and the east coast, in general. A capital investment programme will be announced in the next couple of weeks by Irish Water which I hope will identify many of the gaps and demands to ensure and safeguard the supply of water that evidently is wholly inadequate in the Dublin area. The margin one needs in any particular area is 15%, but we are down to a figure of just 3%.

Maybe Deputy Clare Daly is happy to allow the waste of water in the existing system to continue. We are not. We want to double the amount of investment and we will do that through one centralised model rather than through 34 local authorities. I am surprised Deputy Clare Daly does not welcome the fact that it is being done through public ownership and a public utility.

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