John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He knows this issue is near to my heart. I do not doubt his personal endeavour and his commitment to this subject. It is natural and understandable that everyone is perplexed and obsessed with the vexed issue of water metering and water charges. I think we are forgetting a more fundamental and important issue. The installation of water meters and the introduction of water charges will be pointless if we do not have any water to supply to people. I know that sounds like an absurd proposition in a country where it never seems to stop raining. I genuinely think that people seem to confuse rainfall with the water that is supplied for commercial, agricultural, industrial and domestic use.

I am blue in the face from mentioning that this country has not built a reservoir for over 60 years. We are not harvesting the rain when it falls. It runs off into streams and into the land. The latest research and evidence, which suggests that the greater Dublin region and the Leinster region are within a decade of running out of water, is irrefutable. No one will thank the Government if it is remiss in its responsibility and duty to ensure there is a safe, secure and sustainable supply of water. That should be the foremost matter that concerns Irish Water. The difficulty I have is that something which is about to become everybody's problem seems to be nobody's responsibility.

Bord na Móna, an excellent State agency, has operated to good effect for many decades. With Dublin City Council, it has been advancing and developing the proposition that a new reservoir should be built in the midlands - at Garryhinch near Portarlington - for ten years now. This proposition is based on the extraction of water from the Shannon basin. I emphasise that the proposition involves extracting 2% of the water on the flood. We have received accurate and reliable data regarding water flows and water levels in the Shannon basin on a daily basis almost since the foundation of the State, thanks to the monitoring that is done by the ESB at Ardnacrusha and at various other stages along the Shannon waterway. It can be abstracted safely and fairly without jeopardising the integrity of the Shannon waterway. I am a strong proponent of guarding the environment or ecology of the region.

As the Minister of State said, this proposition is well advanced in terms of the costing, the design, the engineering capacity and the purpose to which it can be put. Strangely enough for this country at the present time, the funding for this project is in place. Bord na Móna and Dublin City Council have the resources and the reserves, off the Government balance sheet, to source the necessary investment. It would cost ¤500 million to build this reservoir and to abstract water from the Shannon and pipe it into the greater Leinster region. The project would ensure this country's water security for another 50 years.

At a time when people in this country are obsessed with wind farms and windmills, with a view to exporting wind energy, we should bear this strong natural resource in mind. My view is that it is the equivalent in importance to the discovery of oil. We should consider the prospect of exporting water along an east-west interconnector. It would be possible and feasible. In view of current climate trends and rainfall levels, it could be a commercially viable scheme. I am concerned that a project that has been kicked around for ten years is being left on the back burner, even though it is a viable and sound economic and environmental proposition.

Bord na Móna is on the fringes of the new Irish Water entity that is emerging as it works on this project in partnership with Dublin City Council. I am concerned that inter-agency and interdepartmental rivalries might lead to a lack of emphasis and co-operation. I urge the Minister of State, who is a champion of this proposal, to use his good influence. We can go around the country installing all the meters we want.

We say we will charge whatever price for water but what if people turn on the taps and there is no water, or there is rationing? Believe it or not, this is not too far away in spite of the level of rainfall. Two years ago the city of Dublin came to a standstill on New Year's Eve because of burst pipes. Restaurants and various other social outlets were not able to open. That remains a real possibility.

Over the decade of the so-called boom we built 600,000 housing units, mostly on the eastern seaboard, yet nobody asked where they would get their water. Nobody suggested building a reservoir to supply them with water. Intel uses a large volume of water, many thousands of litres, on a daily basis to sustain its operation which fortunately creates so much employment. I was shocked to find out from research that to produce one kilogram of beef, so important in this country, it takes 15,500 litres of water. This is not airy-fairy stuff.

I fully respect and always take great interest in Senator Quinn's contributions, finding it a learning process, but I profoundly disagree with his proposition that Irish Water should have been a private entity. Water is such an important resource that I am glad it will remain in State and public ownership. I fear what would have happened had there been an Eircom-type situation in which, once the body was privatised, no investment was forthcoming to provide vital infrastructure such as broadband. That left us on the back foot as a country.

I thank the Acting Chairman for his patience. I also thank the Minister of State.