Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

What discussions has the Taoiseach had about our water infrastructure at the aforementioned committee? Over the past number of years, the Taoiseach has tried to justify domestic water charges on the basis that we urgently need to address the huge problems with our water infrastructure and to comply with EU directives in the context of the management of our water resources. I do not give that any credibility, frankly, because if the Taoiseach was really interested in such matters, then instead of wasting what could amount to €1 billion on domestic water meters - when we now know from the expert committee that household usage in this country is not wasteful - he would have something to say about what the committee is doing to actually address the huge infrastructural deficit.

I want to ask specifically why the Government is not proposing a retrofit programme for water-harvesting equipment in all publicly-owned housing. Why is the Government not introducing building regulations requiring water harvesting? In terms of meeting the requirements of the EU directive, why does the Government not introduce an incentive scheme and provide grants to householders for the installation of water-harvesting equipment? I recently asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government how many swimming pools there are in the country, in the context of possibly introducing a swimming pool tax for those wasteful people who have private swimming pools ,but he did not know the answer. Does the Taoiseach have any answers on any of this or is it all just spoof?

See this speech in context