Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not keep the Minister long. I just want to get a couple of facts straight. I asked the Minister about the €460 million. He has not answered that. I would appreciate it if he would deal with this. Is that €460 million in loans to the company? There is an additional €165 million which is part of the conservation grant and there is €60 million for rates. When we add up all of those, I am not sure why it is we are even floating this idea establishing this company at all. This company cannot pay for itself. I agree with my colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh. Shelve the thing. We are only playing games. Are we putting this company together to say we have started to charge for water in Ireland and satisfy some head over in Europe? I cannot see the company making one cent to put into infrastructure. More important, I can see the Exchequer having until 2019 to pay to keep this company afloat. I ask the Minister to deal with those issues. I appreciate the Minister is tired, but I am tired myself - tired of not getting answers.