Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water's proposed capital investment plans summary for 2014 to 2016 contain a schedule which adds up to €1.771 billion over the next three years to the end of 2016. It contains a figure for customer-side leakage of €51 million, which is less than 3% of the Irish Water budget.

Even before we got yesterday's announcement, the Government knew that only 3% of Irish Water's resources would be spent on customer-side leakage because the majority of leakages are in the mains. We often see water mains bursting in the street, and we also know there are leaks in the pipeline taking water from the Blessington reservoir to Dublin city. Those are the main leaks; they are not on people's private property. Irish Water proved that itself by knowing that less than 3% of its budget would be required for that particular purpose. It will not identify those issues at all, however.

By the end of 2016, half a million houses will still be without meters, so where is the conservation there? We have 500,000 houses with meters today and hopefully the plan is that by the end of 2016 we will have about 1.2 million houses with meters.

There is a litany of things I could say about how badly Irish Water runs its affairs. One of the most pathetic things, however, was a RED C survey the company sent out to get its customers' complaints. They are almost trying to make themselves out to be nice guys. They say that for every customer who completes the survey, they will donate €1 to one of three charities, LauraLynn Children's Hospice, Pieta House or UNICEF. It is a pathetic effort to try to buy goodwill. They are hiring RED C to find out what people think of Irish Water, but everybody knows that already. That survey was a waste of money. Irish Water has sunk to a low level when it operates on the back of charities' good names to try to salvage its reputation. It should be closed down immediately.

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