Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In regard to Irish Water, the Taoiseach is remarkably reticent on the substance of the issue. I put it to him that, as chairman of the all-powerful Cabinet sub-committee on the economy - the Economic Management Committee - he was centrally involved in this unmitigated mess and debacle as it unfolded in the past two years. The Government was advised by PwC not to proceed in the way it proceeded. PwC stated it would cost a fortune to set it up as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis. It became a multilayered bureaucratic monster. The Government railroaded the original legislation through the House over a year and a half ago.

We know that 693 staff will work for Irish Water when it reaches its full complement in 2016. That is in addition to the approximately 4,000 local authority personnel who are currently working on the system and will continue to do so. The ESRI has estimated that approximately €2 billion in extra costs will be incurred as a result of the use of unnecessary extra staff. The Government has spent approximately €180 million on the establishment of the tier that involves Irish Water, of which some €90 million was spent on consultants. At the end of the day, when account is taken of the conservation grant - a terrible term because it is a misuse of language - we will be looking at a net revenue scenario of approximately €25 million. The Government will hand out a bill with one hand before handing out a cheque with the other. It hopes the cheque will mitigate the bill to be sent out one month previously. It is absolutely farcical that any Government would get involved in such a trade-off for electoral and political reasons, having made such a mess of this matter from day one.

The Taoiseach was centrally involved when the economic sub-committee of the Cabinet decided to earmark approximately €540 million from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to pay for the metering of 1.1 million homes. That was done in such a way that there was no accountability to the House for the spending of that money. No information has been forthcoming on the nature of the contracts or anything like it. We have been told they are commercially too sensitive for full disclosure in that regard. Deputy Barry Cowen spent two years trying to get answers from the Minister who kept on saying it had nothing to do with the Government. It will cost Irish Water approximately €25 million per annum to repay the loans from the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

I would like to ask the Taoiseach about the European market test which will decide whether the Government's plan fulfils the requirement to be off-balance sheet. We were told all along that we would know the outcome by the end of March. That is when we should know whether it actually meets the test. In recent days the Taoiseach wrote a letter to Deputy Sean Fleming saying the work of the CSO would be completed in two to three weeks. I take it that this means that it will be done by the end of March. The letter suggests the assessment will then be provided for EUROSTAT. The letter written by the Taoiseach to Deputy Sean Fleming also mentions that the CSO has been advised that a final response from EUROSTAT is likely to take at least two months from the date of receipt. Does that mean that we will not receive the EUROSTAT decision until the end of May or early June? Will the Taoiseach confirm this? Will he confirm whether the CSO's assessment in two or three weeks time will actually be published at the time of its assessment?

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