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

I thank the Minister for his initial response. He indicated this will be done "in good time" but I remind the Minister that the consultation process initiated by the Government and led by the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, began a number of weeks ago and neither the Government nor Irish Water has made a submission. There has been no consultation, even at committee level, in this regard. How can the Government expect full engagement from ourselves and the public if we do not know the costs? We have no idea of them despite the commitment made this House by the Taoiseach and Government Members that the process would be open, transparent, consultative and all-encompassing. There is nothing encompassing about the fact that the Cabinet has yet to discuss this, let alone make a submission to the CER and allow it to continue with the business of setting a price process in motion.

The Minister and I meet members of the public on a daily basis in the course of the current election campaign and they have been left in the dark as the secrecy continues. There has been no effort by anybody representing the Government to change this, and the silence from the Minister and his Department on the issue is deafening. It is high time the Government did as it said it would; it must match rhetoric with action. The Minister of State behind the Minister, Deputy Howlin, referred to the derogatory term of "Paddy", meaning the general public. I accept it is a derogatory term which should not be used but it was used by the Taoiseach. The public needs information but it is not being told anything because of continuing secrecy. Nothing has changed and it is high time there were changes.

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