Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Since the Government carried through its threat to establish Irish Water, it has rarely been out of the headlines. We have seen the recruitment of former CEOs of various county councils, as well as retired staff who had received lump sums from the public sector before being recruited on large salaries. All of this happened even before the infamous bonus culture was reported or it was let slip that Irish Water had spent €85 million on outside consultants by 10 January 2014. When the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan, was asked whether he had cleared that expenditure, he said he did not micro-manage Irish Water. However, the notes released following a freedom of information request proved that he had been well aware of the content of the proposal on outside consultants because he had signed off on them in 2012. It is clear that the former Minister and the entire Government treated the Oireachtas with disdain. When one treats the Oireachtas with disdain, one treats the public with disdain. The Government has created a situation where many would say our very democracy is under threat because of its arrogance, stupidity and determination to create a gold-plated, bonus driven super-quango which is not accountable to the Oireachtas. The most regrettable scenario has now emerged where Ministers are unable to go about their normal business. That is unacceptable, but it could have been avoided if the Government had listened to what was said in this House 12 months ago.

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