Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Without funding, local authorities had no option but to put their resources into other areas, resulting in the complete abdication of responsibility by successive Governments for investing in water infrastructure or for even acknowledging there was a problem. It is laughable that the Members opposite sit and point fingers at the Minister, Deputy Hogan, when we are in this scenario because of their failed policies and their failure to provide basic investment for infrastructure that will be necessary if we are to deal with a growing population. The birth rate is the highest it has been in more than 30 years. I come from the fastest growing local authority area in Europe. Its average age is also the lowest in Europe. There has been a systemic failure by local government, through the funding provided by central government, to invest in water infrastructure.

Between 2004 and 2009, my local authority of Fingal County Council, with the little money it had, invested €10 million in 30 km of pipe replacements, including wooden pipes in the north of the county that had been there for God knows how many decades. Due to the requirement to replace pipes that are damaged or rendered beyond use because of their age, the council must replace an additional 300 km of pipes. Deputies can work out how long and how much this will take. In Dublin city, I understand that 800 km of pipes require replacing. For decades, we have needed to spend money on dealing with constant problems because of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's failure to address basic standards, for example, the use of asbestos pipes in certain instances and the installation of substandard facilities up to and including water treatment plants the length and breadth of the country.

It is laughable that the Members opposite have tabled this motion for nothing other than electoral purposes. Thirty-seven years on from the 1977 general election, electoral purposes are being placed ahead of the State's basic needs. That is a disgrace. Fianna Fáil's motion condemns the "cynical, politically motivated delay of information". What nonsense is Fianna Fáil talking? The Cabinet makes decisions on a weekly basis, just as Cabinets under Fianna Fáil's control did for 27 of the past 30 years. This has always been the case. We are in a coalition Government and it is clear that there will be different agendas at the Cabinet table. That is the cut and thrust of politics. Even if we are to believe that Fianna Fáil has been resurrected from the disgrace it brought upon itself in recent years, not for one second do people believe this nonsense. No one wants to pay water charges - of that I am certain - but we do not have a choice in the matter because of Fianna Fáil's decisions in 2010. In 2009, even before we entered into the financial programme of assistance, Fianna Fáil signed us up to water charges. Here we are with cynical electioneering for the purpose of garnering votes in the local and European elections.

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