Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----because it will not be raised from a wealth tax, as mentioned by the Deputy previously but which I believe has now been jettisoned by Sinn Féin. In any event, the Government is very clear that Irish Water will pass the market corporation test and will allow for all these things to be dealt with in the time ahead.

I will give the Deputy an example. There are small group water schemes, bits and pieces of council schemes and major schemes all over the country. I was looking recently at three small schemes in rural Ireland, comprising of 1,200 houses, with bad water sources, inferior pumps, badly laid schemes serving farms and houses, with discoloured water and so on. Under the council regime at the time they were bundled together with departmental assistance and the sources of water were fenced off, proper pumps were installed, leaks were repaired and a trough was put in every field where that was appropriate. Metering was also installed in the houses. In the first year, those 1,200 houses saved half a billion litres of water. The people in the houses and on the farms were very happy to see the meters measuring the consumption of water because they were able to tell if any leakages were occurring from the source outwards. These systems have the capacity to transform the way service is delivered at a cheaper cost and more effectively for everyone in the longer term.

I am glad that Deputy Adams referred to my speech on climate change at the UN. He asked me whether the Cabinet sub-committee has discussed this and the answer is "Yes". Its decision was that we should play our part.

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