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

The Members in opposition spoke the truth tonight about the great need for increased investment in water infrastructure particularly in rural Ireland but also in urban Ireland where I live. The water system in Staleen in Donore failed twice in the past two years when 70,000 people had no water supply at all which led to significant trauma. Thankfully the money has been found, the capital is being spent and the water supply is being augmented in my area.

The same could happen tomorrow in many of our towns and cities. There is Victorian infrastructure in many places and that is part of the reason for the problems. To replace that infrastructure and improve the quality of water and allow urban and rural communities to develop as people would wish them to be developed is all about money. That is the reality.

The country has made a decision that there will not be a charge for water and, as a democrat, I accept that. Any money that we spend between now and kingdom come has to come out of our current capital account. It comes from current spending out of the budget every year. I welcome the Minister's iteration of increased financial support for water improvement services but it will not go far enough. The reality is, as industries and towns want to develop, there has to be a significant increase in the capacity of the water supply. Dublin is the big area but other parts of the country are important. I appreciate the point that was made about Kerry which had a large number of small group water schemes. The idea was to replace a significant number of them with improved infrastructure and Deputy Danny Healy-Rae referred to a facility which was recently opened by the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin. That is a good thing.

We are left with climate change which will have a significant adverse impact. I know some Deputies do not like that, but it will significantly affect where water is going to fall and where it has to be brought to in the decades to come. The question of conservation of water is a very important issue. They are the issues. In the absence of a plan to meet all the requirements of the country right now, the question is if we had the money, where we would spend it? We have to be very strategic in what we do.

I note there is a Deputy here from Roscommon. Some years ago, the highest water leakage in the country happened to be in Roscommon. I think it was over 60%; it was incredibly high. The question of conservation of water is something we must tackle. Putting a water services plan together for all parts of the country is something we, as a Parliament, could decide and agree upon. I would agree with what Deputy Mattie McGrath has said. That is what we need to do, but where we get the money from, and where we have to take it from, is the crisis that we are in because it is on balance sheet. It will continue until we find a satisfactory outcome and I do not have any immediate expectation of that happening. The public would not support a charge for water right now. That is the real problem. Where do we go from here?

An increased share of the tax take has to go on improving water infrastructure and each town and county will make its own case. One thing that struck me when I was a Minister was a group water scheme in County Mayo. There is an awareness in rural areas about conservation. In one part of County Mayo, the young people, the schoolchildren, actively went into the community to identify water leaks and ensure the group water scheme dealt with them and that resources were not wasted. Deputy Breathnach has a similar case in his area and my area.

We are dealing with a finite resource in difficult financial circumstances.

It would have to come out of current expenditure. Accepting that, I agree with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that we should try to go forward together to increase expenditure on our water infrastructure from direct taxation. That is what the Oireachtas has decided and what we have to do.

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