David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I again call on the Government, through the good offices of the Leader, to halt the establishment of Irish Water and abandon its regressive policy on water provision. We have heard in recent days from experts and economists that there could be an overspend of €2 billion on Irish Water. It was quite obvious to Senators on this side of the House when we were discussing the Water Services Bill and asking direct questions of the Minister of State during the lengthy debates on the issue that this was a disaster waiting to happen. It was clear that there was no proper accountability and transparency and it seemed to us that the Minister of State either did not have the information or was not willing to give it to us when we asked various questions during the course of the debate. We asked questions about staffing, recruitment and bonuses. We have now learned that Irish Water has hired a number of former senior officials at local government level, including a former county manager in Waterford who retired with a very generous package and had his pension topped up. Mr. Ray O'Dwyer was given a very generous severance package, had his pension topped up by having a number of years added and then walked into a top job in Irish Water. The pension abatement rules do not apply to him and when asked why in the Dáil yesterday, the Taoiseach's responded that it was because Irish Water was a semi-State or commercial business. That is simply not acceptable. This is exactly what causes many people to throw their hands up in the air in despair at how we do business. That a senior official in local government could be retired with a very generous package and then walk into a job in an organisation primarily funded by the State is simply not good enough. We must have a debate on this issue. We must discuss the pension abatement rules applying not just to the public service but also to any institution funded by the taxpayer. That would ensure fairness because there certainly is no fairness in the current arrangement. The individual involved should not be taking the salary he is taking. The Government should ensure in the instances where people have received top-up payments that the pension abatement rules will apply; otherwise, how can people have any confidence that the Government will do things differently from the previous one?