Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Was he? Time will tell. The electorate will decide who is here at any stage. County Westmeath has good infrastructure, including sufficient sewerage capacity and proper water systems in both of our main towns and many of our villages, because we had a proper county council which utilised the resources available to it and matched them with local resources to ensure development and investment. The idea behind Irish Water is that we need an overarching body to deal with water. What do our county managers do in their monthly meetings at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government? Surely they engage with one another in regard to what is needed in their respective counties and the potential for crossover between bordering counties. I question the need for establishing Irish Water. The money that has been wasted in its establishment would have been better spent on providing social housing or broadband.

We could have copied the model used by the National Roads Agency, which worked well in terms of collaborating with councils to provide road infrastructure. That model would not require anything like the 700 staff who currently work for Irish Water. What are these staff doing? For the next several years, service level agreements provide that the existing staff of local authorities, who have always dealt with water queries, will continue to do so. When there were two serious incidents of burst water pipes in County Westmeath, it was not Irish Water staff who were out at 11 o'clock at night trying to rectify the problem, but Westmeath County Council staff.

The work they do should be acknowledged. However, where were the Irish Water staff? They were nowhere to be seen.

The reason for installing meters was that it would be an incentive to conserve water, so why is a flat charge being introduced? Where is the fairness? Where is the incentive for people to conserve water? It simply does not exist. Regardless of whether one uses 10,000 litres or 100,000 litres, one will pay €68 per year if it is a single adult household or €168 per year if it is a multi-person household. Where is the incentive or fairness there? Where is the fairness for an old age pensioner with an non-contributory pension of €220 per week? The pensioner is perhaps living in an old person's dwelling provided by a local authority for which she is paying €26 or €32 per week, depending on where it is located. She must feed and clothe herself and must heat her home. She will pay €68 per year. Then consider John Tierney, the CEO of Irish Water and retired CEO of Dublin City Council, who received a gratuity to which he was entitled and is now in another job and earning €200,000 per year. If he lives alone, he will pay €68 per year. Where is the fairness or equity there? It simply does not exist.

We will oppose this legislation. The Government must abolish Irish Water. It must ensure that the investment in the infrastructure takes place first to ensure there is a fit for purpose infrastructure in place and that people, regardless of their location on our island, have quality drinking water coming from their taps. At some time in the future, when we have ensured the problems have been fixed, that all the pipes leaking treated water have been fixed, the treatment facilities are in place and people can use the water from their taps, we might possibly consider asking people to make a contribution. Most fair-minded people would consider it then. However, after the universal social charge, the property tax and other taxation, how does the Minister expect people to pay for a substandard service and a new quango? It is simply unfair and unrealistic to ask them to do that. The Minister must review this.

Ultimately, having spent and invested almost €1 billion and when account is taken of the concessions that go back into people's pockets, the annual return if there is 100% compliance will be €120 million per annum. Surely that €120 million could have been got from far different sources.

Finally, I omitted to mention the commercial customers who have been paying for water thus far. They have not been entertained or considered with regard to how they can be supported in paying for water.

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