Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Minister, Deputy Kelly, informed us that up to 200,000 houses were taking water through lead pipes and that the content of lead contaminating water is at a level that requires those pipes to be replaced. He assured the public that he had prepared and would shortly announce a programme of rectification which would be funded in part-grant form, similar to the septic tank grant qualification method and said funding would be available from January.

On the face of it, this seemed positive, but past experience convinced me to check it out. I raised this issue in June 2014 following the Government's decision to proceed with Irish Water along the lines of Fine Gael's 2009 NewERA document. The then Minister, Commissioner Hogan, had given the distinct impression that a first-fix policy was inclusive of all possibilities. When I asked for confirmation about lead pipes, the answer was not quite forthcoming, possibly because we were facing into a charging scenario that would not be along the lines of €400, €500 or €600 per house and so Irish Water felt it would not have such an extensive first-fix policy.

Last Wednesday I attended Irish Water's clinic in the House with some specific questions further to what the Minister had said. For example, I asked a senior Irish Water official to outline the methodology used to arrive at the figure of 200,000. Was there any scientific basis for the figure? Was there any breakdown of pre-1962 buildings? Was there any breakdown on the villages, towns and cities which have predominantly pre-1962 mixed-use buildings with lead piping? The senior Irish Water official told me there was no scientific basis and no specific methodology was used even though there was ample time and notice of this predicament.

I then asked if there was any correlation between this figure and the metering programme, because the Minister had specifically said it was related. I had feared that was an attempt to justify the €540 million that had been spent on the metering programme with no obvious benefit in the immediate or near future. The answer again was "No".

On the basis of a senior official disputing what the Minister had said, what proposals is he putting to Cabinet in the absence of any methodology or scientific basis for the argument over the amount of pipes that need rectification? That being the case, how can he give a commitment to the people that funding will be in place next January when he has no indication of the extent of that funding, considering he wants to use the methodology used for the septic-tank grant system?

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