Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Those who register will be entitled to a support of €100 assistance towards that from the Department of Social Protection.

For this modest contribution, people will receive a high-quality water supply which one would expect in a country as developed and developing as ours in 2015. We cannot go on with a system where thousands of people have had boil water notices for years, a grossly inferior wastewater and sewage treatment systems in so many towns and where 50% of the water supply, for which people have contributed over the years, leaks away into the ground. That is why it is necessary Irish Water is a separate entity, to be able to borrow on the markets to invest to fix those leaks and to provide water and sewerage systems right across the country that will bring us to the point of competency in service and standard that we should have been at for so many years.

If one looks at the record, we have had an investment of €300 million over the years which is 50% of what we should have been able to invest. We cannot do that, given the scale of the finances of the country. That is why it is necessary that Irish water be established. It is also finding out through its metering programme the scale of loss of water over the past 50 years which was scandalous. The opportunity now presents itself to bring our country’s water and wastewater systems, as well as its sewage treatment plants to the highest international standards. I am sure Irish Water will be happy to supply the Deputy with the details of bills that have been issued and paid.

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