Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When one talks about forums, I recall the turf cutting issue several years ago when someone had the bright idea of a peatlands council in which stakeholders were invited to partake. It was the greatest quango and talking shop, as well as the most useless thing ever set up to resolve a problem. People drew expenses for travelling to council meetings. It has now even gone so far as people get a wage out of it. For God’s sake, let us learn from past mistakes and stop setting up more quangos. Instead, people should be put on the ground to resolve problems and to scour water pipes across the country to ensure proper infrastructure is put in place. We should forget the attempts at appeasing through lip-service and get on with the real work on the ground to resolve water supply problems.

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