John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In answer to Deputy Durkan who seems to want to interrupt everyone, the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform suggested in relation to Irish Water and the Poolbeg incinerator that the Committee of Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General should have a role in looking at the set-up costs. If the Government did that, it would take all the argument out of it. It would be relying on an independent body such as the Comptroller and Auditor General, who could look at the figures put forward by the Tánaiste, the scandalous waste of money in the employment of consultants and other matters in Irish Water, and who could inform the House independently of where all these costs stand. Will the Minister of State do that?

The Tánaiste referred to the taxpayer picking up the tab of €2.9 billion but it is the same taxpayer she expects to pick up the tab on the charges for the significant costs of setting up Irish Water. The Government cannot dismiss the fact it is the same taxpayer in every instance. She is misleading the House on that matter.

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