Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is disgraceful. It seems that following the Cabinet meeting yesterday, at which it is alleged the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, had quite a rant in frustration about Irish Water, he has taken that frustration out - through his fellow party member, our colleague Senator Susan O'Keeffe - on the regional airwaves today, and following a meeting held in secret last night for Government Members of the Oireachtas, this gun has been placed at the head of a local authority.

We will vote today for the Minister to explain this, and again tomorrow if he is not available today. The local authorities of small counties of Ireland, unlike the larger local authorities with €100 million or more on deposit, as opposed to debt, following the centralising policies of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, will not stand by and let the Labour Party do to them what the Government has allowed Brussels do to the Irish people.