Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The essence of all of this is wait and we will see what the Government can do. The model that has been put in place, where the Government set up this structure off the books and tried to borrow the money on the international markets to provide the infrastructure, simply has not worked and that must be recognised. Irish Water has been a failure. That is the reality for the people.

It is certainly a reality for the local authorities which have in many cases continued to do the work, and all we have seen is an additional layer of management put on top. It has been a total heartbreak for many, who have worked all their lives in local authorities and who have provided an excellent service for people, to find that they are merely cast aside as if they had been doing nothing all down the years. The fact is the local authorities and the good staff who worked in them did an excellent job with the limited resources they were given. We need to see adequate resources provided to ensure a proper infrastructure can be put in place.

I take the Minister's point that there are many instances where raw sewage is poured into the sea and into rivers, and there are significant problems to be addressed. The model of funding is one issue, but the lack of adequate funding is the real problem. There is not enough funding being put in place to provide a solution to the problem.

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