Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not expect that the wisdom coming from this side of the House will be absorbed by those on the other side. I have outlined what we have been saying. The key is that the Senator has gone to the core of the issue, that is, the question of solving water problems where they exist. He mentioned the significant number in his constituency.

Right around the country, all the county councils have plans stipulating where they envisage improvements, what they would like to do, the planning and the development commitments and the plans of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. All the agencies will feed into Irish Water. It is exactly as the Senator describes. I refer to consultation with local authorities, regional bodies and all agencies to ensure a plan is in place for the development and improvement of the water system.

It is the capital projects about which the Senator is talking. There must be capital projects and current expenditure. The liabilities and assets of each county council must be transferred to Irish Water. When they are all accounted for and measured, Irish Water will submit its plans to the CER. Then all the sums will be done and we will know what the plan will be. We will know whether it covers two years, five years or 25 years. Thus, there will be a plan for the whole country.

Paying for the plan is achieved in different ways, namely, through the actual charge, the commercial charge, the raising of funds, and, perhaps, companies investing in water infrastructure. All these are put together in the plan. When all I have described is done, there will be transparency in the decision-making. It will be known what the CER proposes to do as a regulator and its reasons will be known. The plan will be transparent and debated in the Dáil and Seanad. At that stage, there will be total transparency. I believe I have addressed all the points.