Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are two very unusual facts here. First, we went from talking about €340 million a few years ago, and as recently as a year ago in this House, to talking about €539 million this year. It is also more than unusual that the final figure for the estimate by the local authority at €539 million just happens to be the same figure as that awarded for the contracts in the previous summer. That is highly unusual. If the Minister does not consider it unusual, the public and I do. The cost of the metering programme has soared from in excess of €300 million to €349 million. Will it even stop at that? Surely it is time for Irish Water to be scrapped. It is time for the Minister to cut his losses and abandon the metering programme. Indeed, in keeping with the Minister's own rules, is it not time to make that body accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General and to this House, which it is not at present?

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