Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is open to any Member of this House to criticise any public body and if the Acting Chairman is getting to the stage where he will close down reasonable debate on public bodies, which are set up in the interests of State and which are not meeting the best commercial practices that should be applied to them, then it is open to any Member to highlight that fact. I am inviting the Minister of State to not take my word for it - I would not ask him to do that - but have it evaluated to see how effective that company is operating from an efficiency and cost-effectiveness point of view. No doubt there could be considerable savings. My concern is that if that is transferred into this new company, Uisce Éireann, it will have a significant impact on the charges that will be applied.

I am not happy with the structure. I would much prefer it was left with the local authorities. Having said that, the Government has taken this route. We owe it to the people who will be paying water charges. They will also be paying for the overheads. It concerns me.

This is not a scientific operation. The company will take over the infrastructure which is already in place. It will supply water to houses. People will have no alternative, if they want water, but to deal with this company. It is for the chairman or the Minister of State not to be taken in absolutely. This is the time to act, not when the genie is out of the bottle down the line and consumers are getting bills for ¤500, ¤600, ¤700 or ¤800 - whatever it will be in time - when, perhaps, half of that figure, if the company was operated effectively, would be appropriate. I am looking to see the disciplines that are within the Bill that can achieve that. What I see is that the State is taking a share-holding, then opting out and leaving it to a company, the performance of which from the point of view of best practice is highly questionable. That is dangerous.

I am looking to the Minister of State to respond to me on what other factors he can introduce to ensure that the customers are not ripped off and get the best value for money. That is not easy when there is a State, or even a private, monopoly. Once there is a monopoly in this area, it is difficult. I cannot see how there can be other than a private monopoly, but I would prefer a system whereby Bord Gáis, or whoever, could apply to operate the infrastructure and charge the customers for a licensed period. At the end of the licensed period an evaluation could be undertaken to see if value for money was being achieved and it would be open to the Government to decide whether to put it out to tender. No doubt there are many private companies which could take on this job and, perhaps, do it much better.