Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water is set up in order to ensure that it can invest into the future - that it can have capital to invest on a scale that was not there before. It is a model that is necessary so that we do not have to argue about whether we are going to invest in schools, health care, or water. We need a separate mechanism to be able to fund this. Deputy Murphy is well aware of issues around water in her own area. EPA reports over the last months show the necessity for us to invest at a sufficient level to encourage inward investment, for domestic reasons, for tourism and for many other reasons, as the Deputy well knows.

The water conservation grant is far from an exercise in creative accounting. I have met with the group schemes and many people who have their own wells, and they have invested huge amounts of money in protecting their own water infrastructure. They are very happy with the scheme that has been put in place. If the Deputy feels that giving €100 as a water conservation grant is a case of creative accounting, does she feel the same about the fuel allowance, which is given out in a very similar way?

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