Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

According to Irish Water-Uisce Éireann's 2023 annual report, published last month, there was €10.57 million paid in bonuses to the company's staff, a 7% increase on 2022. We know from previous annual reports these bonuses are stacked towards the top earners. In 2021, bonuses averaged €6,560 per staff member, yet the top earners received €19,171 each. There was also an increase in hospitality spend from €54,000 in 2022 to €129,000 in 2023.

Last January, Ireland was convicted in the European Court of Justice of having toxins above EU safety levels. The court found drinking water for nearly 240,000 people was at unsafe levels and that the State, through Irish Water, failed in its obligation to rid public and private water supplies of toxins. It faces fines and penalties. Last month the EPA released a report which found no improvement in water quality; in fact there was a net decrease in the biological quality of lakes and rivers.

We are all aware of the ongoing situation in north Cork with dirty water coming out of taps, ruining appliances and putting the cost of buying bottled water on ordinary people. Irish Water built a new €40 million treatment plant which deteriorated water quality, and then employed private contractors to fix the issue, which seems to have led to further deterioration. This has been repeated in many parts of the country.

The fact is Irish Water is committed to a system of outsourcing water to private contractors. I have raised and criticised that system repeatedly in this House. The system is crumbling and is not working. The local authority workers on the ground are holding it together. When people report problems with their water supply to Uisce Éireann, it comes back to them saying the work has been recorded and done. In fact, in the majority of cases, it is local authority staff who do the work.

There were reports earlier this month that Irish Water needed an extra €500 million per year to keep up with the construction costs of new-build housing. I have heard Irish Water has huge unpaid bills to contractors, quarries and local suppliers I met a group of water workers yesterday, one of whom had a contract with Irish Water. The worker went into a hardware shop to make a purchase and was told the deal had been stopped because there were unpaid bills from last August. The council engineer had to use his council card to pay for the supplies. Meanwhile, we have seen the cost of maintenance skyrocket as Irish Water moves away from the old model of permanent, trained local authority water workers to expensive, often inexperienced and undertrained private contractors.

Why are these bonuses being paid, especially to management in Irish Water? Water quality is not improving. In many cases, it is getting worse. We cannot meet environmental or EU water standards and directives. Basic maintenance costs are ballooning because private contractors are far more expensive than local authority workers.

I am hearing locally, from the horse’s mouth, that our water services are being held together by local authority workers who we are in imminent danger of losing from the services because we have not had a referendum on public ownership of water supply and management. These workers will not cross over to Irish Water unless they are able to keep their public service status. If we allow all those workers to leave our water services, along with all their knowledge and experience, which we will never get back, there will be nothing to stop our public water service from going into freefall. Irish Water and any government that stands over its current policy of outsourcing and creeping privatisation will bear responsibility for this.

I have said time and again in the House that this model of outsourcing will not work and is not working. Ask any water worker, anyone living in north Cork or the European Court of Justice.

It is now clear the Government has no intention of holding a referendum on water in its lifetime. I never thought it had that intention anyway but as its members keeps saying it will hold one, I will keep asking. Does the Government plan to hold the referendum it promised on the public ownership and management of water before its term ends?

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