Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

-----fixing public lighting and so on. The local authority is not going to disappear. It will be very much there and will be very much focused on the core issues.

When Kerry County Council or Louth County Council makes a development plan, Irish Water must have regard to what is in it. In other words, if the council wants to expand zoning in Cahirciveen, for example, if that is a legitimate proposal and if it is put into the development plan, Irish Water must have due regard to that. It must take on board the future plans of the local authority and the future plans of the regional authority. When it is planning water infrastructure, it will not make decisions rather the council, the councillors and the officials will direct where that investment should go. That is a very key point.

County Kerry has many disparate supplies. I do not have the figure but I think there are more than 80 separate water supplies, although I might be wrong. I went to County Kerry to look at them. I went to the base of Carrauntoohil to see what was going on there and I met the county manager and other people. In fact, the Kerry county manager, Tom Curran, who is a very good friend of mine, is the County and City Managers Association's link to Irish Water. He explained to me the problems and how they need to improve the water supply in Kerry. Senator Daly may be aware that it has the highest level of unaccounted water in the country. The reason is the very bad winter. It did not have the finances to recover and to improve the water supply.

Kerry is very focused on all of these issues, as are we and as Irish Water will be. It is a two-way process. At the heart of what we propose is local accountability and taking account of what councils want and need.

The key point is improving the quality of water nationally. The most recent EPA annual report on water quality for 2010, which was published just before Christmas, shows that in areas with populations greater than 5,000, we have the most pristine water in Europe. It is the same as it is in the UK. The problems lie with the group water schemes. The report stated that 11% of group water schemes have problems in terms of E. coli and so on. Those issues must be addressed and Irish Water will address them. There were approximately 60 boil water notices last year because there were questions about the quality of water and precautionary boil water notices were issued. With proper investment in water, we must ensure water is treated for cryptosporidium to prevent people from getting sick. The resources which councils do not have must be readily available and the national and regional input of Irish Water should be put in focus, so that we get the resolution people need.

On the question of metering, if one has one's own private water supply, one will not be metered. There is no new charge if one supplies one's own water. If one is not connected to the public water supply but to a group water scheme, of which there is a significant number, one will not pay. However, one will have to make the scheme more efficient. The figures are very significant there. We looked at figures on group water schemes which brought in metering. There are very significant savings in metering. Nationally, the expectation is somewhere around 10% but one gets savings of up to 40% or 50% in some of the group water schemes. Lower figures such as 16% are quite common as well. This year, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has renewed a scheme that will assist farmers who want to use a different source of water. We are doing what the previous Government agreed to do in the EU-IMF deal. We did not have a choice and we must charge for water but there are also other good reasons for doing so apart from the obvious financial reasons. These reasons include health and quality of water supply.

The reality of change and metering is that 2,000 jobs will be created per year over the three-year period as metering progresses. That means work for 2,000 people who are currently unemployed, such as plumbers, those who drive small diggers, site supervisors and people doing accounts. This contract will be broken into between 150 and 200 contracts of average size with approximately 5,000 to 6,000 connections to be made. There will be many jobs, which are needed in this economy. The big plus is the jobs and the effect on conservation. If we use less water as a result of this, our capital infrastructure costs will be lower. It costs €1.2 billion for the capital and running cost of water in this country and we must make up a gap of €1 billion. The State will be involved in supporting local authorities in this, notwithstanding the charges. We will have more money for new infrastructure builds.

One of the key questions is the shortage of water in Dublin. By 2018, Dublin will have a significant shortage of water. Ireland has a lot of water but we will have a shortage on the east coast. If we cannot meet the gap, industry will fail and business people will not proceed, nor will planning and new industry. We have been successful in attracting high-tech, water-intensive industry but if one cannot guarantee a supply of water, Dublin will lose out as a region and the country may lose out as well.

Regarding climate change, on the east coast we will have less water in future and on the west coast we will have more. We must deal with the issues of supply and the areas that have shortages in the future. One of the projects for the future is the abstraction of water from the Shannon, which is proposed. The estimated costs are €500 million so we must find that sum in order to ensure the water supply in Dublin is adequate for the future.

I refer to Dublin as the area where 60% of the population of the country lives. The two options are to pump from the Shannon or desalinate. Desalination involves removing the salt from the water but the problem is that desalination plants use a lot of energy and we must then deal with the brine left behind and pump it out to sea. Desalination is not an option on the table at the moment. A key factor is environmental sensitivity. When the proper democratic processes are gone through, the abstraction should not take place for five months of the year. It will not be happening all day everyday but only when water is at a higher level than normal. We all know about flooding in the Shannon and it is clear there is an excess of water. We are talking about abstracting the excess but not taking water when the level has dropped. It is very important to the Shannon and the lakes area that tourism continues. There will be no change in the environment for tourism, levels of water and the flora and fauna. The fish in the rivers will not be affected because their environment will not change.

Those are some of the issues that are important to address. I hope I have made the key points. This is the listening process. We are giving Senators our plans and we will study whatever they say. We will come back to Senators when this process is finished because we want to make sure this plan works. We want to ensure an accountable system. When the big freeze came in Belfast, it was not the lack of workers on the ground but the fact that the customer service was not there. Thousands of calls in a short period of time could not be dealt with and we have a focus on customer relations. When the new entity is set up, people can pick up their phones and they will have a 1800 number and someone will answer the query. This will be driven by service to the consumer and it will not be a remote, unavailable quango. The service will be accountable and available.

I am very happy to debate in the Seanad and to attend meetings of committees. We are determined to get this right. The only way to do so is to put out our plans, listen to what Members have to say, take on board their comments and move forward. I look forward to Members' contributions.