Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The one point on which I will agree with the Taoiseach is that there is a legacy of underinvestment. Where money was provided to local authorities and where they built plants, there are some extremely good examples of that money being well spent and producing very good outcomes. We should acknowledge that rather than say it cannot be done at that level.

People are not confused. If anything they lack trust because there has been a series of problems. The bonus culture, the request for the PPS numbers and the cost of running the service have all featured. People have always paid. Consider, for example, the amount of money taken in development contributions. I received a reply recently to the effect that there is €717 million either in bank accounts or due to be collected in development contributions. That is frozen because of the Government deficit. Much money was collected from the cost of a house purchased or an industry opened. What is on the table for consideration? Is the Government considering scaling back the cost of running Irish Water? Is that being factored in at all? Will the service level agreements set up with the local authorities feature or will this be merely a question of what the Taoiseach considers affordable and what most people feel is the straw that will break the camel’s back?

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