John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In regard to the amendment, I am saying the forum will be able to address and tease out all of these issues in the best interest of communities and the public and people in places like Strokestown in County Roscommon. I proposed someone from Roscommon should be on the forum, because Roscommon people have suffered most in regard to bad quality water that nobody can drink, thanks to 20 years of neglect by previous Administrations that purported to represent that county. It is important we have this forum and that it is representative of all stakeholders. It is important it does its job well and feeds into the Department and the Minister of the day, who rightly instructed Bord Gáis that it was wrong when it opposed metering. As anyone involved in water services and group water services around the country knows - colleagues in Fianna Fáil have acknowledged this - the best way to find out how much water we are using and where the waste is and the leaks are is to have meters. At the same time, the entire Opposition here opposes metering.