John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We accept that the original establishment of Irish Water was an unmitigated debacle and disaster. It was a carousel of cronyism and consultancy fees, but this has been stripped down and put right. The Minister's intervention will be a lasting one. We should not be here today trying to pass this legislation, as the establishment of Irish Water and legislation on metering should have happened 30 years ago. It was not politically popular to do so because instead of building reservoirs people wanted to build a Bertie bowl.