Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As regards this Government amendment, I must compliment the Minister of State and his departmental officials for performing the gymnastics required to get to this point. The reason for establishing Irish Water, as outlined by the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, and his predecessor Phil Hogan, was to keep water services off balance sheet. It was said that it would be a stand-alone commercial entity. The record of the Dáil will show that this was rehearsed and repeated over and over like a broken record. This amendment is being tabled, however, with the clear intention of doing what the Minister of State said he would not do, that is, raiding the local government fund to prop up Irish Water. He did it in 2014 and said that it was a one-off.

I recently paid my car tax which is for roads, and an ESB bill which is for electricity. I accept the fact that under the term of the 1998 Act the car tax is going into the local government fund because at least it is going to local government services. As a former member of a local authority, I know that we had some idea every year where that fund was going. Now, however, the Minister of State is leaving it wide open to continue raiding the local government fund for no less than €540 million. On what basis is it morally correct to raid the fund?

The local property tax - or family home tax, which is a more apt name for it - was supposed to be for parks, libraries, footpaths and lighting. That is what the Government repeatedly told us but we now see that it will be used to feed the corporate monster called Irish Water, which is not fixing leaks. I could show the Minister of State a leak that would have been fixed had the county council been left to its own devices and which had half the money at its disposal that is being pumped into the corporate monster called Irish Water.

The amendment about financing Irish Water and keeping it off balance sheet. Before Christmas 2014, the Government transferred €500 million of a water loan back onto the State's balance sheet through one line of this Bill. Using the coalition's grand majority, they rammed it through and then rushed off on their Christmas holidays. Yesterday at the committee, the Minister of State said that local authorities pay rates to themselves and all commercial activity is rateable. Here we have, in the Minister of State's words, a stand-alone semi-State commercial company that does not pay rates. Imagine if Bord na Móna, the ESB, Bord Gáis or Coillte could do that, yet none of them can. This outfit, Irish Water, can because that measure was pushed through. That amounts to €559 million. In this year's budget, Irish Water was given a €399-million subvention from taxpayers' money for operational costs. Not content with that, the Government decided to give Irish Water another €222 million for capital funding, telling the company it could borrow on the market at three times the rate the Government can borrow for the State's balance sheet. Can the Minister of State explain that logic?

The Government then robbed €130 million from social welfare to be paid out in a water conservation grant, including for the millionaires of this country. They can thus empty their swimming pools every morning and refill them if they wish, while leaving sprinklers on for their extensive lawns and gardens. There is no problem because they do not need to conserve one drop of water. I want to see water being conserved, as I have said for the past four and a half years in this Chamber.

Sinn Féin wants to conserve water. It is a valuable resource and it costs money to treat and to get into people's homes but this does not conserve one drop of water. The grand total on the State's balance sheet because of the actions of the Government in the past six months alone is €1.31 billion. Does the Minister realise that is €1,310 million? The Minister should try to spin his way out of that one.

That is what the Government has put on the State's balance sheet. Not content with that, the Minister comes into this House to secure a clause in the legislation to take €540 million. That is a fact which is on the record here and no spin from officials can get the Minister out of it. It completely negates everything he has said in this Chamber. The Minister of State has stood logic on its head in respect of all the arguments and all the cases put forward by him, by the previous Minister, Phil Hogan, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. It is being done to prop up Irish Water and then go to EUROSTAT to get approval for it all. I am sure EUROSTAT will do that because it is the billed amount that matters. The billed amount and what is actually received are not the same thing, however, and we will wait to see what has been received by the end of the year. Let us see what the Government has brought in by way of water charges by Christmas, then deduct the €130 million it robbed from social welfare and the State's balance sheet and then we will see what we are left with. The Government will then go into next year saying it has to do it, but it knows all this.

All this is a gliding exercise to glide the Government smoothly towards the elections. That is why it rowed back and reduced the charges, putting in the laughable water conservation grant that even people who are not connected to Irish Water can claim. People with their own wells can claim it. That is how crazy it is. It is a nutcase of a job. It has been done in the hope that people buy into the system. If the Government only nets a fiver after deducting €130 million, it will say it has the system up and running. It is about getting the door open and the sums are there. The sums are not mine but the Government's own and they were given in writing and verbally in the Dáil.

I will be opposing this amendment because it is illogical and wrong and the Minister of State knows that. The Government is pulling a fast one, using its majority, as it did with the previous two water Bills, to stand logic on its head and to ram the Bill through this House. It has totally disrespected the Opposition and the electorate in the way it has done this.

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