Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Tipperary people are usually proud of each other, particularly when they are on the national stage. I assume that is what I was hearing from that quarter.

The objective here is that Ireland will have clean, safe and healthy drinking water for ourselves and future generations. That is important. This country gets a large amount of rain and there is no shortage of water, thankfully. However, treating water for human and public consumption is a costly business. There is a cost in getting it to a person's house and in taking the wastewater away. That is what we are discussing.

I am delighted that solid progress is being made. Did the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, hold Fianna Fáil Government meetings and Cabinet sub-committee meetings in public? I must have missed those. It is certainly a development when the Fianna Fáil spokesperson, and he can correct me if I misunderstood, is complaining about Cabinet sub-committees, including the Economic Management Council, meeting in private. That is the practice, and it has been for a long time.

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