Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of accountability, I am cognisant of what Senator Barrett said. Sometimes Senator Barrett is on the button and sometimes he is not. When he hears it is the public sector the negative statistics tend to flow. That is where he is coming from and I respect that. However, my experience with capital schemes in my area is that there tends to be an overrun of 3% to 4% allowed on any big project, and spending is generally kept within that. My question for the Minister is similar to what Senator Barrett asked, as I understand it. Who will be the person watching this? Obviously Irish Water will have a certain amount of money for capital projects and a certain amount of revenue. It will trade as a company, albeit in the public sphere. However, who will control it? Will it be the Minister? Will the Minister tell the company to bring in the books so he can look at them and see where the company is going? The Minister is pointing at us but who will it be in the real world? We know how things operate in here, in so far as the information comes in and we do what we have to do. However, in the real world, who will be watching the pennies?