David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Cathaoirleach and every Member of House a very happy, prosperous and peaceful new year. I want to move an amendment to the Order of Business, as the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, is to be in the Seanad from 3.45 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to the Order of Business. I propose that an hour should be put aside to discuss the debacle at Irish Water, given that the Minister will be present anyway. I am sure many of us will attempt to raise some of these issues during the Local Government Reform Bill 2013 debate and be ruled out of order. As the Minister will be in the Chamber anyway, it would be useful for him to answer questions being asked of him by people outside the House. He should be answering such questions in the Seanad.

The Leader is aware that before the Christmas recess, we had a very lengthy debate on the Water Services (No. 2) Bill. Although the Bill was guillotined, there were many hours of debate. We in Sinn Féin, along with members of Fianna Fáil and Independents, raised many questions about salaries, the cost of establishing Irish Water and the transfer of assets from local authorities to Irish Water. We were accused by those on the Government side of asking the same questions over and over again and going around in circles. I stated at the time that we were asking the same questions because we simply were not getting the answers.