Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for his good wishes. I wish all my colleagues a happy new year and look forward to a very productive session in 2014.

Two committees are questioning Irish Water in detail. It is appropriate that is done in the committees. A question that needs to be answered in respect of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, is that he said he does not micromanage any aspect of his Department. I do not think €180 million is a small amount of money. An example of what he and the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, have done is that they have literally thrown Mr. John Tierney and senior officials in Irish Water under the bus. The Minister, who will be in the House this afternoon, has many questions to answer. We debated the Water Services (No. 2) Bill in great detail here, on which I commend the Leader. That is one thing the other House did not do. These are very serious issues. People are extremely annoyed about what they are hearing. The lack of governance within the Departments appears to be at the crux of the issue. Irish Water passed all details to the Minister and his Department. As they were signed off on and approved, let us not fool anybody about who is responsible. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, is responsible. At the appropriate time, when the Committee of Public Accounts and the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht have finished their deliberations we should have a debate on the specific issues around cost and the roll-out of metering.

I ask the Leader to request the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to come to the House at the earliest possible opportunity. I had more regard for Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and her Department than I do now. On 31 December they issued a circular to all local authorities stating that the housing adaptation grants, housing aid for older people and mobility aids grants were being cut.