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

I do not have all the answers. Policy issues are based on consultation and knowledge. Uisce Éireann will produce its plan and put it out for consultation. The local authority will then see what it wants each county to do, what the priorities are, following consultation. That has to be costed. Then it goes to the regulator who decides what the charge should be, if all the projects are carried out, and what level of charge is sustainable over a period of years. Some plans, such as a major sewage treatment plant, will take four or five years to come to fruition. Multi-million euro developments will not happen tomorrow. This will depend on how they are planned. There will be costs for the design and maybe for consultants to help with the design but health and safety is the absolute priority. The water has to be potable. One has to be able to drink it safely. The question then arises of what is needed to make it safe. I do not know the exact details but the views of the EPA will be paramount in my mind, the Senator’s mind and, I am sure, in the mind of Irish Water. It will have to deal with those issues and there will have to be a cost for them.

I am glad that Sinn Féin is raising this issue here. A sustainable water supply has to be paid for sustainably. We have to be able to raise the funding to pay for the improvements that are needed. We have to get more money from commercial rates; get private investment in; the company will have to borrow and there will have to be a charge. The mix of all of those factors will result in the decision about what work will or will not be done. The most important thing that we can all do is identify in our own areas the key priorities and put them into the mix and see what comes out. The consumer will pay but the price must be seen to be fair and acceptable to the consumer. If 42% of all water nationally is unaccounted for and never gets to anybody's taps that is a major issue. There must be physical improvement of the scheme as well as capital improvement. How will it deal with water unaccounted for in Roscommon, where the rate is very high? I think in Kerry it is over 60%. I stand to be corrected on that. All of those issues must be dealt with. If and when they are, we will have a modern, fit-for-purpose water system.