John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am also somewhat flabbergasted by Senator Walsh's statement that there should be competition in the delivery of Irish Water. That is grand but we know what competition can bring. It can bring cartelism and price fixing, in which case people would have no control over the price of water.

I am encouraged by some of the Minister's statements in regard to something that has never happened in my county. We always had to source our water supply from Roscommon and there was never an adequate water supply in the county. Now we can cross borders to source our supply and in my town of Ballaghaderreen where people have not been able to drink the water there for 20 years, the plan is to extract water from Lough Mask in County Mayo. That is a welcome development. Some 31% of the people of Roscommon have always paid for their water and that is a statistic that is probably accurate across rural Ireland. Nobody in my county would mind paying for water as long as they can drink the water coming of their taps. That is the issue for me and for the people that I represent.