Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government, which I read, states the Government's goal in respect of our water service: "To achieve better quality water and environment we will introduce a fair funding model to deliver clean and reliable water." By this standard, the Government has failed and has not put forward a fair funding model. Looking at the water services strategic plan published two weeks ago, it states the target date of 2021 has been set to eliminate boil water notices. There are currently 23,000 citizens living under such notices and up to 1 million other people are being served by 126 water treatment plants that have been classified as unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency. This is an indictment of the previous Government. Irish Water confirms it will take 25 years to reduce leakage to acceptable levels, a decade to remove dangerous lead piping, and a quarter of a century to develop a water service that meets our short-term needs. At the height of the Celtic tiger, I was one of those arguing that the wealth, or an element of the surplus, should be set aside to provide infrastructure, including water services. That would have been a better use of the opportunity created by the working people of the State. When bringing forward the initial proposal to establish Irish Water, we argued that instead of giving a huge amount of money to the new entity, installing water meters and paying consultants, the money should have been spent, as part of a catalyst for the economy and a stimulus to the construction industry, addressing the problems of leaks and pipes. Whatever way we look at this, the Government has made a hames of the matter and public anger forced the Government to do a U-turn. The Government should have done the gracious thing and scrapped water charges as opposed to the economic scamology it was involved in.

Nobody should be in prison as a result of this issue.

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