Results 6,741-6,760 of 10,577 for speaker:Barry Cowen

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: They guillotined legislation 11 months ago and have guillotined 65% of what was before the House. The Government has the numbers and has put a process in place whereby the former Minister, Phil Hogan, had a carrot and an incentive. The incentive was Brussels and when he got it he put it on the Taoiseach's desk and the mess left behind is for the rest of us to clean up.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: The suggestions are on the public record. If the Minister of State wants to go back over it, I can repeat them. We now have a lecture from people who carried out ten U-turns since they went before the House looking for suggestions.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: I thank the House for the time to respond to this motion. The Government feels it has gone far enough but that remains to be seen. There is much detail that will be questioned and I hope the information will be laid before the House to allow an informed decision to be made by Members thereafter. I hope Deputies will not walk blindly in order to be embedded-----

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: -----in the Fine Gael policy derived and born in 2009, adhered to by the Labour Party in the meantime and watered down to such an extent that it feels it is palatable. I am afraid that is not the case and I can do nothing only to object to that motion before us.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for permitting the suspension of the debate for 45 minutes to allow time for the Minister to come back into the Chamber and participate in the debate. It also gives Members an opportunity to respond in a constructive fashion to the motion before the House. In addition, many questions may be asked, clarifications sought and propositions put, but ultimately...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: If the Minister clarifies that before the debate concludes, I will have no problem with that information being made available to the House. We will then make a decision on how we will vote thereafter. That is the process in which the Minister is engaged. It is the process of putting a motion before the House, as the Taoiseach well knows. I am glad to see him back to also participate in...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: I want that clarity and certainty, as does everybody else here, and we expect to get it. If the debate takes a week or a month we will wait for it. As I said earlier, in case the Taoiseach did not hear, I want to see the detailed analysis of what is required, how it will be done and the associated costs. The Taoiseach is on the record as saying one week it will cost €20 billion and...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: Flaky is the word. For once the Deputy got it right.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: The duty of the Opposition is to hold the Government to account and to offer constructive and competent alternatives. I and others have sought to hold this Government to account in this area in the past, but it has not been allowed by virtue of the guillotine. Our party has been consistently opposed to the establishment of Irish Water, to all it stands for and to all it has sought to do, as...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: That animal has turned into a monster. The public has no faith in it whatsoever. It has no traction, it is shot dead and people do not want to see or hear of it again. Against that background, the Minister should consider abolishing Irish Water.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: The Government continues to give it the sort of commitment it gave to Bord Gáis and where is that? It is gone.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: How much will the metering cost - €500 million? It is like the Olympics; it seems the Government will take them up and put them down every four years, given the way it proposes to deal with them.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: The Government's determination to establish Irish Water has cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of euro. It has stalled any progress in infrastructure provision. As others pointed out while the Minister was speaking, €700 million was spent on setting up Irish Water and the procedure for the installation of meters.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: Not one cent was invested in the ground or any pipe. Following its series of U-turns, the Government has created he most inefficient billing method in the western world, which involves the Department of Social Protection administering a bizarre €180 million cash rebate scheme. The income from all of this will be €90 million. In addition, the Government has spent nearly double...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: Yes, it did. That was the figure given for four person households. Members opposite should look it up and do the maths.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: The Taoiseach told us that he did not agree with a bonus culture and that those days were gone. Within days of that statement, the CEO of Irish Water confirmed that all of its staff had a bonus incentive included in their contracts. The Taoiseach also said charges would be fair and that children would have a free allowance, neither of which came to pass in the course of these famous...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: I will go so far as to seek an adjournment of the Dáil until the Minister with responsibility for this matter returns to the Chamber to hear what we have to say. I assume the Minister has left to brief the media. His ministerial colleagues do not seem to know. One would have assumed they would know and have prepared properly and adequately for this debate. The Minister has been...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: Perhaps then we might have a proper debate.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: I am glad to hear the ten point climb-down has nothing to do with electoral cycles. I welcome the opportunity to address the House in response to the massive climb-down the Government has announced in the motion. The former Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, was correct when he said the setting up of Irish Water had...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (19 Nov 2014)

Barry Cowen: During that guillotined debate there was not a peep from the Government side about the level at which the charges would be set.