Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In fact, there are probably far more than 11, if one looks at the list of projects not yet designed. The same applies to every local authority area in the country. There can be hundreds of projects and there have been hundreds for the past 25 or 30 years. Every year there has been a drip, drip effect, as it were, with regard to which scheme will get the go-ahead. The reason is that each local authority and all of the projects in County Wexford which the Deputy mentioned had to compete with schools, hospitals and other public projects funded from the general taxation fund. That is the reason we have never been able to invest properly in fixing the Irish water supply and wastewater treatment system. That is why there is a need for Irish Water to be able to borrow independently and pass the market corporation test of being able to stand on its own feet in terms of resources in order that it can invest independently and undertake the 11 projects in County Wexford and all of the others in every local authority around the country. That is why it is important.

If the Deputy wants the system to remain the way it was and which has brought us to this point where we have grossly inferior infrastructure, I do not share his view.

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