Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In January this year the chief executive of Irish Water confirmed on RTE that in excess of €180 million was spent on setting up Irish Water. Many Cabinet members, as well as Members of the Oireachtas and the public, were made aware of the extent of those costs. The Oireachtas was subsequently drip-fed information about the make-up of that €180 million, including, for example, €85 million spent on consultancy fees. Irish Water was set up under a cloud of secrecy from Bord Gáis, despite warnings about taking this avenue from the Opposition and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which in 2011 confirmed that would be a more expensive route. We now have massive duplication as tiers of upper and middle management are recruited while local authorities will continue to maintain and repair water works for the next 12 years at least.

The Government defended setting up this white elephant - a bonus-driven quango - by stating it would save the State €2 billion by 2021. The savings that will be made are actually water charges. We were told in the aftermath of January's debacle by the Taoiseach, among others, that what Paddy needs to know, Paddy will know at the earliest opportunity.

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