Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister up for taking help from someone who is in the construction sector, who knows water and sewerage and knows how to fix and maintain them? Will he take my offer of helping him to save money and get more value for money? Will he take that offer? I can help him to save money on what he is giving Uisce Éireann and get more infrastructure in place with the same money. If he is open to taking help, that is what I can do for him, or does he think he is above taking help from somebody who worked all their life in this sector? I wish him well in his position. I do not trust his Department. I do not trust Uisce Éireann. I do not trust them for one reason: there is no accountability. I commend the Minister on what he is trying to achieve but, with all the best will in the world, if there is no accountability and value for money, what he will be doing for the next number of years is the same thing all over again.

I will give him one example of how we could save money from the likes of Uisce Éireann and get more value so we can fix some of the leaks we have around the place. I know some places that have had the same leak fixed 20 times. They would have the road or the pipe network fixed for the 20 call-outs they are paying someone to fix the same pipe over and over again. I recently did a small study on a sewerage plant. The capacity of any sewerage plant in this country is made up of, in a dry season, which is our summer, the capacity of the town or village multiplied by either three or four. I will work it into simple cubic metres for the Minister. The Croom plant has roughly 1,200 cu. m for storage. In a dry season it has between 250 cu. m and 300 cu. m to deal with sewerage but during the winter it is at maximum capacity, at 1,200 cu. m. That means the Minister and the taxpayer are paying for treating storm water. That is what we are treating rather than taking a simple solution which is to split the water network, have the storm water go to an interceptor and then to the rivers and have the sewerage go to the plant. That is how you can allow for more houses and infrastructure to be built in an area. That is a solution that can be put in place at a small cost for the fix. I can help the Minister there. I can go around and visit all the plants around the country, help the Minister and give him what he needs to take on Uisce Éireann and make it give him value for money. That is how I can help him. If he is willing to take up my offer, I will help him to deliver more for the people of Ireland.

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