Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It supports the payment for water in the Six Counties, although it is wrapped up in a very large household charge which Sinn Féin regularly tells us includes bins and a whole lot more. The charges paid by most citizens of the Twenty-six Counties, when they have their bins, water and everything else paid, does not come close to the charges levied in the Six Counties. Sinn Féin also suggested the establishment of a commission, which Deputy Cowen has already referred to, to look into water charges, yet now that it is part of what we have agreed, Sinn Féin decides it is no longer a good idea because it did not get to deal with it. Much of that has to do with the political jockeying that Sinn Féin engaged in - or, rather, did not engage in - in the aftermath of the general election. It spent 70 or 80 days very pleased with its election results and failed to participate in the process afterwards. That surprises me to some extent because, of all the parties in the House, it has understood processes that have been put in place elsewhere, has benefitted greatly from them and often relies on the necessity to have a process to achieve an ultimate conclusion. I am talking about the peace process, if Deputy McDonald has forgotten. Sinn Féin has sought to pour cold water on what has been achieved by Fianna Fáil from our perspective. It is a bit disheartening but I am confident that by the time that process has concluded, water charges are eliminated, Irish Water is recalibrated and fit for purpose, and the focus of attention is away from the distractions that have unfortunately bedevilled this entire, sad period in our political time, the focus will be back on getting the appropriate resources and investing them in our water delivery system and in the treatment of our waste water to ensure that we do not have the ongoing and continuous pollution which has been a major inhibitor to our development as a nation.

I thank the work of Deputy Barry Cowen, both as a negotiator and as our spokesperson on water, for the work he has done in achieving so much in such a short period of time.

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