Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A few minutes ago, the Tánaiste said that big new projects would always experience problems. This is true, but Irish Water is probably one of the big projects that should not have started. When the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, said we would look back and be proud of it one of these days, I wondered what land he was living in. The Tánaiste also expressed surprise, shock and outrage at the amount of sewage going into our seas and the rivers. It is shocking. How come the Government did so little for four years if it knew this was happening? The Tánaiste referred to 42 towns, which is an underestimate. In Wexford, Arthurstown, Kilmore Quay, Duncormick, Curracloe, Oylegate, Ferns, Camolin, Duncannon, Wellingtonbridge, Clonroche, Ballycanue, Campile and Ballyhack, 13 towns, are on the list for work on waste treatment plants. Irish Water came along and the work was postponed. The council was not allowed to do the work. What has Irish Water done?

It has taken six from the list. Kilmore Quay, Duncormick, Curracloe, Oylegate, Ferns and Camolin have come off the list. Of the remaining list of seven facilities, none has been started and we do not know when they are going to start. I do not understand how the Government can stand over the failure to act on the sewage treatment problems facing Ireland.

I understand money is difficult to get and the Europeans have refused to provide us with a write-down on the bank debt, which should have been forthcoming. An organisation was prepared to give us €64 billion to bail out useless banks but it would not provide money to deal with water treatment issues. The Government has boasted about being able to borrow at less than 2%, which is great, but we should be allowed to borrow money at that price in order to invest in water and the treatment of wastewater. If that is on the books, it would force the Government into breaking other EU rules. These are people who are supposed to help us rather than cripple us. Italy and France have just admitted they will not meet the rules this year, next year or in the following two years. They will get away with breaking those rules; they do what they like and we do as we are told. We should be borrowing money at less than 2% in order to tackle the problems in water and sewerage infrastructure.

The Taoiseach mentioned Ringsend and boasted that Irish Water will save €170 million. It will do so by scrapping the long sea outfall. Up to now, scrapping this was not allowed because extra discharge would cause problems for communities. I would like to hear what local communities will have to say about the potential extra risk along that coastline arising from abandoning the long sea outfall in order to save money for Irish Water.

The Minister, Deputy Kelly, today indicated that the installation of water meters should go ahead because without water meters, we cannot tell where are the leaks. I have worked on the streets of this city for 20 years and I can tell the Minister such a statement is untrue.

See this speech in context