Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey. The Fianna Fáil Party's position on Irish Water from day 1 has been vindicated. The Government has introduced ten U-turns since charges came into effect on 1 October 2014. The Government is making up water policy as it goes along as shown by the fact that this legislation was removed bizarrely from Deputies' post boxes only two days before this debate due to last minute changes. The expenditure of €540 million on water meters will be wasted for another five years, while another €25 million in further interest payments and maintenance fees on the loan is due by September 2015. This is money down the drain. Meters cost €450 per household. For a family home this means the first three years of charges will be spent on paying off the cost of the meter. For a single adult household, it will take seven years to pay it off. The new regime is cooking the books to meet the EUROSTAT test. Some €60 million of Irish Water spending has now been shifted onto the local government fund, effectively robbing county councils of funding. This is one of the main reasons Irish Water was set up.

The original principles of water conservation put forward in the debate have now been completely abandoned. A flat charge will apply until at least 2019. Irish Water will not invest an extra cent in infrastructure. More than €530 million has been spent on water meters that will only last 15 years and will rust in the ground before costing at least €60 million to be replaced. Almost 500,000 meters have been installed to date with another 500,000 meters contracted to be installed. These water meters will not be used until 2019 at the earliest and judging by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan's, comments possibly later.

Ministers who fell over themselves explaining the need for water conservation investment have now forgotten about these ideas. In a further blow to the already tattered reputation of Irish Water, revelations around the €100 million increase in the estimated cost of water meters raises further questions. The entire set up of Irish Water should be subjected to an examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Much of the €172 million start up costs for Irish Water has also been completely misspent with water meter reading and billing apparatus now rendered useless.

At a time of financial hardship with a major housing crisis and creaking water infrastructure, the Government chose to invest more than €500 million on a metering system that will not be used now for at least another five years. This is one of the most scandalous examples of waste of money in the history of the State. Having once emphasised the importance of water metering, the Government is rowing back on the stated goals of its policy in a desperate attempt to keep public anger at bay. The tragedy of the situation is the complete lack of political understanding of managing a project. They showed their lack of experience by having a very short timeline for its delivery. As the former Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, has admitted, the Government responded to EU pressure to deliver the project quickly. It takes time and patience to drill down into the management of the plan to make for its successful delivery.

Fianna Fáil policy is to abolish Irish Water and suspend charges pending a full review of the policy. This latest U-turn underlines the complete mess this Government has made of our most important natural resource. Unlike the economics of Sinn Féin policy or a complete lack of alternatives by the anti-austerity grouping, Fianna Fáil believes in a clear route to a renewed water policy. As I said before, we believe in a partnership between the local authorities and a new Irish Water authority to manage the water resource, similar to the way Fianna Fáil delivered the fabulous motorway infrastructure.

We have a fabulous national road network due to the partnership between the National Roads Authority and the local county councils.