Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The mishandling of the setting up of Irish Water is affecting the whole economy, particularly over the past 12 months. Consumer confidence has taken a battering, due to the prospect of additional charges and taxes following a raft of financial burdens over the past six years. Many people just cannot afford more pressure on their household budgets.

The revelation made in the early stages of the setting up of Irish Water regarding huge bonuses for Irish Water staff angered and enraged almost all consumers. There is no benchmarking system in place and that is an oversight that should have been rectified at the start. Irish Water is an overstaffed super quango and it appears it has up to 2,000 additional staff for whom there is no need. This inefficiency will raise the cost of water for householders. On top of all this, we hear weekly of exorbitant fees being paid out to consultancy bodies.

Rather than being concerned with conservation, the establishment of Irish Water is purely a revenue raising exercise. At the end of 2014, the consumer confidence index fell. The catalyst for this fall in confidence seems to have been the prospect of water bills in the new year and the significant uncertainty regarding the future and medium-term to long-term charges for water. Due to this uncertainty, fewer people are saving. They are discouraged by the thought that water charges will eat up their savings. The see a bleak outlook for the future and envisage higher and increasing additional taxes. A study carried out by the Irish League of Credit Unions stated that eight out of ten families feel their household budgets will face pressure and strain in the coming years due to the initiation of water charges.

Water metering is the main priority of Irish Water, to the exclusion of the required emergency work to deal with contaminated water supplies and the replacement of deficient pipelines that leak millions of gallons of water daily. For example, Kerry County Council has several miles of faulty pipelines in several areas of the county. These intermittent supplies are a nuisance and an inconvenience to householders. They also bring financial demands, as in many cases consumers must seek an alternative supply of domestic water. Many of them must buy bottled water from their local shops. There is an immediate need of an investment of at least €20 million to carry out the required upgrading.

I commend the replacement of lead pipes in certain estates throughout the country. Piping in a huge estate in Tralee, St. Brendan's Park, has been replaced in the recent past. However, there is a need to renew plumbing in housing following the replacement of the piping and people need assistance to help with that. This applies all over the country. People have been drinking polluted water for the past 50 or 60 years and the system is not right yet.

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