Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When someone is told that a Bill will have this but then they are in the ante room of the Seanad and it is not there, what do they say or do? They would say, "What the hell is going on here? What is happening?" Eventually, in fairness, the former Minister, Mr. Hogan, insisted it would change. However, I agree and accept that Irish Water should be totally separated from Ervia. Then, we would never have all that rubbish about people getting extra pay because it was linked to pay in some other organisation and all the stuff that went on, which was a disgrace. None of that would have happened. The point now is that we have to ensure that what is left of the organisation, bad and all as it is, changes. The legislation before us is worthwhile and important. However, it is also important that we win back the confidence of the people, which the organisation does not have.

I want to make a couple of points that relate to the setting up of the organisation. I sat where the current Minister of State sits and, at the time, I was made a promise, which I was told would be honoured, that people in this House would have the phone numbers of their local contractor for Irish Water. If anybody here has them, they might put up their hands because I do not have them. Does anybody have them? No, they do not and they will never bloody get them because those contractors do not want anyone to have them. They do not want people to contact them or to know who they are. In fairness, when I phone or email Irish Water, as I often do, there is a very good phone service and it will reply to me. The situation with the contractors is very poor and is not acceptable. There was to be an accountable manager, an individual in each county who people could ring and who would come back to them on all those issues. That has not happened and it needs to happen now.

While I want to compliment Irish Water on many of the significant things it has done in my constituency, I remain disgusted that there has been no response some six months after I wrote to it on behalf of the Dee and Glyde Fishing Development Association. We all know inland fishermen are good, committed, community people. The association had a proposal to improve the riverbed and the fishing capacity relating to the river, and letters have been going over and back for six months between Irish Water and an organisation called Louth County Council. I gave a list to the Dee and Glyde Fishing Development Association of 16 emails we have written. The association will meet again tomorrow night to see what the hell is happening with its very fine proposal to use a vacant space beside a water treatment plant in order that people might park safely there and fish. This would obviously add to the quality of life of these very fine people. Nobody has contacted them so they keep ringing me. I keep writing the letters but without result. That has to change. I discussed with the representatives of the association what I would say in the House because I think it is important that it is said here.

There is an awful lot of work to do. At the heart and soul of it is a lack of commitment within Irish Water to public representatives. There is arrogance still at the heart of Irish Water. In my view there is despair. There are some 40 or 50 pages here about what it did and did not do and I have just picked out some of the key points such as lack of organisation, no plan, no communication, no involvement with the emergency HSE service and no corporate memory. The pipe collapsed one year ago which was a rare, unusual and special incident. Another bit of this pipe could not be had and Irish Water did nothing. I know that I am repeating myself. Irish Water did nothing but expects us to swallow all the crap it gives us. We survived. The Members here are all politicians like me. We in Drogheda survived that but it was very difficult, especially for people who are vulnerable. It was difficult on all the public representatives because we did not have proper communications. It is exceptionally clear that there is a lack of joined up thinking between Irish Water and local authorities. The lack of communication between Irish Water and the council, evidently lacking in the documents I have here, shows that they were asleep, were afraid to ring or were afraid to make contact. I challenge them now to come forward and own up and to put in place a rational plan that works for the future and for Drogheda, where there is a pipe 50 years old and which could go again. I know that Irish Water has committed to investing €2.5 million for putting a new pipe in place there but all around the country, in Members' constituencies and in mine, somewhere there is an underground pipe - just like the one in Staleen - that will burst. There is no money to fix it and there is no pipe to fix it either. That is where we are.

In properly funding Irish Water, which is what I was about and am still about, changes must take place within the organisation around transparency, accountability, responsibility, communication and capacity to listen. The biggest problem that Irish Water has is that it does not want to listen and it does not want to know.

I stand over what the Government is doing and I stand over everything I did. I stand over everything I believe because I know that what I was saying and doing was true. If it had happened - but it did not - then Irish Water could have been an organisation we were all proud of instead of the exact inverse and opposite. It is, however, never too late to learn. Other people have sat in the seat where I now sit. I welcome the Minster of State with responsibility for housing and urban development, Deputy Damien English, who lives in the same county as Staleen where the pipe is. His constituents get the same water supply as my constituents. It could happen again, it could happen tomorrow and it could happen to all of us. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy English, for his help and his communications to me during that time. I also thank the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, for his immediate and urgent responses to any requests I made at that time.

I believe the system can and must change, but we must also face the reality and accept the ultimate, absolute truth that the water supply can only be improved if the money is there to fix it. Relying on direct taxation as we do now is not the best way of doing it. It is not sustainable in the long run if the people who use the most water pay the least. This happens. I was in Brussels last week and in a railway station I saw an advertisement that said nearly 58% of the water wasted in Belgium is wasted by some 8.9% of the people. There is a lot of abuse and wastage. If we tackle that waste issue, which is the Government's intention with this legislation, and if we bring people onto our side I still believe it could happen, notwithstanding those who say it is never going to happen. It must happen but until it does happen people must accept that there have to be changes.

I do not wish to put words into Deputy Broughan's mouth but when he spoke earlier - I will check the Official Record and I have no doubt he will also - I believe he said that water should be paid for from the property tax. If this is what he said then he is really saying that there has to be another form of taxation other than direct taxation for water.

If we look at those issues, if people think it is fair and if they can see why it has to be done, then I believe we can still win them over to our side. There is no point in telling people lies or telling them it is going to be right tomorrow when it is not right today, because it will not be. All the Deputies who are in the Chamber and those who are not might, when their pipes burst, remember what I am saying to them.

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