Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Irish Water will lift the boil water notices on 17,000 homes in the coming months. This is what the Opposition, in many cases, wants to abandon. Irish Water is identifying and fixing leaks and finding where lead is in our water system. It is a major public health issue that the Opposition sees fit to ignore.

Irish Water has 385 capital projects under way throughout the country at present. Again, many of those in opposition seem intent on abandoning these. With the city of Dublin facing water shortages in ten years' time, securing the recovery means that we need a national infrastructure manager. I expect the Opposition to criticise the costs of Irish Water but its members must realise that the economic cost to a water shortage will be €78 million per day. This is the cost which would be borne by hotels, restaurants, families and industry that lose out on business as a result of a lack of water. In one week, this city could lose almost €400 million. That would be the cost of not having Irish Water in place in the future.

If the past seven years have taught us anything, it is that we need to plan for sustainable economic development in the future and not allow upcoming elections dictate policy. We need to create a national network of water infrastructure, something similar to the Irish rail network, that will sustain economic development. This can only be done by a single public utility which can access its own borrowings. Just as a family requires a mortgage in order to build a home, the water system needs finance to be effective. Many of those across the floor have questioned whether there is a recovery. They do not see that recovery because they want people to feel like victims. Some 40,000 full-time jobs were created in this country last year. Over half of these resulted from the efforts of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. The salaries of those who obtained the jobs in question are significantly above average income levels. Unemployment is falling at a rate not seen since the era of the Celtic tiger. This will only continue if it is underpinned by continued investment in our water infrastructure, which is so vital to economic development, to our pharma, high-tech and ICT industries and for clean-tech firms, which have a massive future.

I wish to point out certain inconsistencies in the arguments put forward by the anti-water charges brigade. First, when the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, reports on drinking water and sewage systems quality were published last January, there was a deafening silence from many in the Opposition. Apart from the 23,000 people currently on boil water notices, some 1 million individuals are considered by the EPA to be at risk of having such notices applied to their water supplies in the future. It is very strange that a group which believes in the right to water should flatly ignore such vital facts. Another inconsistency relates to the fact that well over 20% of Irish people have been paying for their water for many years. I have yet to see a march to or a protest outside any of the group water schemes in this country. The people who are members of such schemes have been paying for and managing their water for generations. Is it acceptable for rural people to pay for water if it is not acceptable for their urban counterparts to do so?

Many of the problems that exist in the context of the public water supply, such as the presence of lead pipes and leaks, do not affect group schemes such as those at Lissycasey in County Clare or Donaghmoyne in County Monaghan. These are two fantastic schemes. How many of those who are opposed to water charges have visited places such as those to which I refer? Have they ever heard of them? Have they ever travelled past the Red Cow roundabout? I sincerely doubt that many of them have done so.

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