Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, is before the House in place of the Minister who made the speech. Much has been said today about the Government listening, but I do not think it is. If it were, we would not be in this mess. It was disgusting to see the Minister walk out of the Chamber after delivering his speech and I hope the Minister of State will convey this point to him. I do not care about his media commitments; his commitment is to the House. He should have stayed and listened. It was also disgusting to hear him speak about his legacy - his legacy will be written by history and in time and I do not think it will do him great favours.

Some time ago Senator Denis Landy referred to the bonus structure at Irish Water. As a trade unionist, I can tell the House that if I had a contract with a bonus structure, I would not give it up for free. I want someone on the Government side to explain how the contracts of employment held by Irish Water workers are to be undone. How will bonuses be taken from employees, particularly those in the lower pay bracket, from €25,000 to €40,000, referred to by the Senator? I would like someone to explain this.

Today I took the time to go through the Irish Water work schedule and must say I support the notion of having a water utility to look after our water supply. However, there is no way on God's Earth that Irish Water will meet its work schedule as it consists of page after page of what must be done around the country. There are massive leaks all over the place and we are metering houses with meters that will not be required. We should spend the money on repairing leaks. There is lead in the water in Limerick, Cork and Dublin and I am sure the same can be said about Galway. In Tralee there are dangerously high levels. As boil notices are in place all over the place, why are we wasting money on meters that are not required? We should spend the money on repairing the system.

There was much talk last week about how the regulator would manage the charges of Irish Water. Where is the regulator now?