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

The Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government should consult the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, who actually came up with the idea of establishing the utility which he named Irish Water in his NewERA document in 2009. I know he was well advised at the time. If one reads it, one will note how he was super-confident that this was going to be a great runaway success with great potential and capacity.

Is the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, right when he blames the Taoiseach, the former Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, now European Commissioner, Phil Hogan, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, for getting this so wrong? Is it time to step down Irish Water? We are reading about climb-downs all over the place. Is it time to step down the company before this debacle gets worse? What level of actual revenue does the Government need to pass the so-called market test regarding off-balance-sheet accounting? Is it €300 million, €400 million or €500 million? Is there essentially a fundamental irreconcilability between the Government’s utility model and affordability?

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