Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Even the most partisan Government Member would acknowledge that this has turned into quite a fiasco. I acknowledge that the previous system did not work with 34 local authorities overseeing a system that did not get adequate investment over the years and could not be managed. It is impractical to expect a utility to have so many bodies overseeing it. However, what should have been a good news story has turned out to be an absolute disaster for Government because it just did not listen. It is almost a year to the day since I stated here in the Chamber that the water legislation would come back to haunt the Government, which has happened.

Several speakers referred to the time when the troika left. When the troika left the Government acted like the kids in the classroom when the teacher left for break. Its members felt they had free rein and they took off like wild horses. They are now reaping the rewards for it. This legislation historically will be seen to have been this Government's Waterloo. In time it will be a case study as to how governments should not do things. Everything was done in a very poor manner. While the Government won the confidence motion two days ago, the public no longer has confidence in it.

While I realise that polls can vary and the calling of a general election concentrates the mind, if a general election took place last Monday week based on the figures turnout for 2007, the Government parties would have obtained in the region of 17.5% of the vote. I do not believe there is any retrieval for the Government.

We now have a system set up that does not satisfy people who are totally opposed to water charges and others who would have seen the merits in one body, in the charge, in the conservation and in the repair of the infrastructure. They are not satisfied. In the fullness of time it will be shown that the model we have today should either be scrapped or we should go back to step 1 and develop it as it should have been.

I tabled an amendment in this section that was ruled out of order. It dealt with seven large urban areas that do not have secondary treatment plants. I suppose it is a populist amendment in many respects. However, if an individual dwelling has a septic tank and does not feed into a proper system, it incurs 50% of the charge. If we are to be consistent and equitable, the same should apply to a town dweller whose system just goes out into the local river or the sea.

In my area Arklow is such a town. We do not do infrastructure well in this country even though the previous Government introduced infrastructure legislation. We are all very conscious of our own doorstep, but it could apply anywhere. Will the Minister look at the situation in Arklow to prevent a replication of what has happened there? Planning permission was granted in 1997 and funding was allocated. However, to date the plant has not been built owing to a series of objections going up and down the ladder. This has resulted in the public not having confidence in the planning system. This arose due to the pressure from the public in the mid-1990s when interpretative centres were proposed for Luggala and Corofin in County Clare. There was an insistence by the public that State bodies had to apply for planning permission. One of the unintended consequences has been that one of our large coastal towns has water from a sewage treatment plant going out into the sea.

I do not have a solution to it. I do not know if legislation can be introduced to address it. The Minister may run into the same difficulty with those other large urban towns, four of which are in County Cork.

I am concerned about the assets and liabilities that were due to transfer to Irish Water. My understanding is that the assets are in the process of transferring and the liabilities will remain with the local authorities. However, the local authorities may not have budgeted for this. I do not know if the Minister is in a position to give us any breakdown of those liabilities. If not perhaps he might publish them on the Department's website.

The Vartry Reservoir was completed in 1863. The House of Commons at the time gave five weeks to debate the legislation. It was in the House of Lords for six days. It caused uproar at the time. There was an actual charge on the water at the time, strangely enough.

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