Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not know to whom the Taoiseach is listening if he thinks that this is merely a communications issue or teething problems with setting up a utility. It is far more fundamental than that. The way it has been handled has been a disgrace and has caused considerable upset. The 100,000 people on the street were not complaining about their telephone calls not being answered.

The impression being given is that we are starting from scratch. The example given was that it is on a par with setting up the electrification of the country when, in fact, as I stated, €11 billion of assets, many of which are first-world assets that have been invested in over decades, were handed over to Irish Water.

This is far more important than a communications issue. It is a loss of trust in how Government has handled this issue, from ramming the legislation through to adding Irish Water to the list of organisations that can require persons to hand over their PPS numbers so as the Government could circumvent data protection rules, which is what the Data Protection Commissioner states.

I will repeat my question. Where does the Taoiseach place himself in this blame game, which is now focused on the board of Irish Water but which, in fact, it is a political failure?

See this speech in context