Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is because of the kinds of issues the Deputy referred to that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, will be looking at what additional funding can be made available to meet the energy and water needs that our country has and in order to deal with those kinds of issues we know are developing across many communities at the moment. I do not agree with the description the Deputy has offered of Irish Water and I am certain that if we were to begin a process of disentangling Irish Water and bringing it back into local authorities, after having spent many years going in the other direction, that would only add to our problems and not make them any easier. I appreciate the upset that would have been caused to the Deputy's constituents by this. It demonstrates the need for us to invest more in our infrastructure and the work Irish Water is doing, which the Government is aiming to do.

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