Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the past few days, documents have been released to Fianna Fáil under the Freedom of Information Act. Unlike the usual Government spin, laundered through public relations agencies and PR consultants, these documents make for very interesting and stark reading for the public. The documents include a letter from the Secretary General of the Tánaiste's Department to the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr. Robert Watt, which relates specifically to the costs and logistics associated with the administration of the so-called water conservation grant. It clearly outlines what it describes as the Government's revised approach. Two paragraphs have been redacted. God knows what they might say. It is in the public interest that the Government might publish the entire letter.

It is scandalous in the extreme that the Government entered into a plan around 5 November 2014 to try to bribe the people, with borrowed money on which the people will have to pay interest, to get them to sign up to an ill-conceived and badly thought out plan. The latest publication of the documents shows that the Government does not know what it is doing and how to do it but that it intends to waste many tens of millions of euro, borrowed on behalf of the people, to try to do it. The letter talks of “still assessing new initiatives”. We do not see the clarity and certainty that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, talked about in his November announcement. The only certainty is that the Government is as disorganised, divided, incoherent and idea-less as ever in the context of delivering water to the people.

So far, we have wasted €700 million of the people’s money. It is unclear how much more will be wasted. However, it is certain from the letter, because it was free from Government spin, that the official in charge of the Department said we do not have the money and resources and we need more. How much more do we need? The situation must not be allowed to continue. Somebody must shout, “Stop”. According to Mr. John Tierney of Irish Water, €2.3 billion is required to upgrade our water infrastructure and quality throughout the country. We have thrown €700 million down the drain and will add at least another €100 million and God knows how much more to back up the Government's incoherent, ill-advised and disorganised approach. Had we spent this money through the local authority network, we would have completed 35% to 40% of the entire upgrade and would have created employment, instead of the wastage. This is a vital issue in the national interest.

The letter talks of spending more money on consultancy, external service provision including legal and procurement costs, postal costs to each household, advertising services, an administrative team and support, a project team and more staff. Where will it end? Does anybody in the Labour Party or Fine Gael have the slightest idea what they are doing throwing money around in the interests of this super quango, Irish Water? I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to invite the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, to the House to answer questions on behalf of her Secretary General on this correspondence today. It is a matter of the utmost public interest.