Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity to make a statement on Irish Water. I have been paying for domestic water since 1988. I also paid to have a septic tank installed and I regularly pay to have it cleaned. My perspective on water and wastewater is that they cost money. If people want free water and wish to defecate in public, they should do so by all means. Ultimately, however, we must pay for clean water and to have waste and raw sewage treated properly. This is necessary on several grounds, both health and environmental, and all of this costs money.

I would love not to have to pay ESB and broadband bills or the RTE licence fee but the harsh reality in 2016 is that domestic households and industry must pay for the services they require, including water. Water infrastructure is worth investing in and I cannot understand people who want to abolish Irish Water and scrap water charges. What exactly would abolishing a utility such as Irish Water mean? It would result in thousands of staff being made redundant, including those who take telephone calls to help consumers, workers installing badly needed new infrastructure for water and wastewater treatment plants and the staff who install water meters. During the recent general election campaign, I met subcontractors who got work from Irish Water. They were delighted to be working again. Are Deputies on the Opposition benches who argue for the abolition of Irish Water saying we should get rid of all these staff?

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