Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was somewhat surprised this morning that the Tánaiste did not condemn any letter emanating from any local authority threatening eviction for people if they had difficulty paying water charges. She should make it clear that that is not acceptable practice. I do not think anybody in the House would justify that but she did not take the opportunity afforded to her to do that.

When Deputy Higgins sought a debate, the Tánaiste mentioned that the Government had spent a lot of time on the matter. The Government may have spent a lot of time internally, although I do not know. When the consultants' costs were revealed, many Ministers said they knew nothing about it. We subsequently learned, however, that the Economic Management Council, or EMC, a sub-committee of the Cabinet, took all the decisions on Irish Water. Maybe they did not know but the Dáil was not informed. If the Tánaiste remembers, the legislation was rammed through the Dáil in about four hours.

We have therefore had an incredible lack of any serious discussion on the entire issue and particularly around the legislation that established Irish Water. We simply were not given the time because the legislation was guillotined well over a year ago in about two or three hours.

Yesterday, we learned that Fine Gael has demanded that Irish Water should come before an internal Fine Gael committee. This is all about Fine Gael Deputies.

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