Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Councillors will table questions in local authority chambers wondering when certain investments will happen but the Deputies are attacking the charges that will fund investment.

The Government has put forward a system that will ask people to make a contribution to pay for delivery of the water system the country needs, a water system that must be fit for purpose. We will ask people to pay between €60 and €160 per year, net, for services that are required. This will be done in the context of a budget that has given people what they badly need - changes in their after-tax income for the first time in many years and changes in the taxes that caused people such difficulties during this country's time of crisis.

We should look at what the money will be used for. Dublin City Council is responsible for 2,450 km of water mains and between 1997 and 2007, when more money flowed through the country than water flowed through those pipes, Dublin City Council replaced 5 km of mains pipes per year. This is why the system needs serious attention. The rate of work outlined means around 100 km of work would be done every 15 years and this is why an organisation like Irish Water is required. It will pool the country's expertise and it will have the ability to raise its own funds so the work can be done. Work will be done in Galway and Ballymore Eustace. The Ringsend water treatment plant will be improved and when this is completed the savings delivered will equal the start-up cost of Irish Water. This is the kind of work that Deputy Joan Collins will raise in this Chamber. She will ask when it will proceed and how her constituents will benefit. If there is any change to how the work is delivered she will criticise the Government in this Chamber but her stance is against creating the capacity to do the work.

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