Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is the correct decision but the Minister is, in some respects, coming in here with his tail between his legs. There was a Fianna Fáil amendment in the Dáil which sought to make Irish Water subject to the Freedom of Information Act, as amended, but the Government argued that it was not needed and that was not done. The establishment process was kept secret and that culture of secrecy was allowed to fester, with the results we have seen.

This is not enough. The whole culture in Irish Water must change. There are many issues of concern surrounding its establishment but the argument about commercial confidentiality is not tenable. This is a public utility managing a public resource and therefore does not have commercial considerations. It is about time the Labour Party stood up to Fine Gael, which seems to want to privatise water provision. There are a number of issues of concern regarding Irish Water that have been debated over and over again but the inclusion of the body under the freedom of information legislation could have been done a long time ago. There seems to be a determination to keep things private.

What have we seen so far? We have seen a bonus culture return; wasteful spending; the recruitment of more than double the staff required; and suggestions that certain individuals were favoured in the context of office leases. It has been a farce from start to finish. There seems to have been a shocking waste of public resources, coupled with a determination on the part of the Government to keep that secret in the start-up phase. The intention was to set it up before the local elections and get it out of the way, with freedom of information provisions only applying next year.

The Minister has backdated the application of the freedom of information legislation but only because of political pressure. He has done it in advance of the local elections, which is not what the Government wanted. I look forward to journalists, politicians and political parties submitting freedom of information requests and getting the information they seek. One of the key issues that is annoying people currently is that the Government promised last year that the moneys raised through the local property tax would be spent in local communities. That did not happen and the money was spent, predominantly, on the establishment of Irish Water.

If the required change of culture is to take effect, I hope that Ministers will also answer questions relating to Irish Water and will not just pass the buck. The parliamentary questions that have been answered in recent weeks were first put as early as June 2011 and were also put in the Dáil in November 2013. It is unacceptable that what was effectively a slip-up by the CEO during a radio interview led to the release of this information.

While we support this motion, despite it being late, it is not enough. A whole change of culture in the organisation is required. Irish Water is there to serve the people, to manage a precious resource and to manage the financial resources of the people who are paying it.