Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will not go back over the same ground that most of my colleagues have covered. The Government had the essence of a good Bill and then somebody somewhere took the smart move to throw Irish Water and everything about it into the middle of it. As such, I do not believe anybody on this side of the House will support it, although I have no doubt that if we produce 100 amendments, it will be accepted anyway just like the original Bill was accepted here before Christmas. Everything that was said fell on deaf ears. I am still baffled that decent people like Senator Barrett who brought amendments into this House - credible amendments by a noted international economist - were turned down and their arguments fell on deaf ears.

Everything about Irish Water from its inception through to where we are today has been flawed, wrong and questionable. Meetings with a Minister took place where no notes were taken, no records were kept and nobody knows what was said. Contracts were awarded to companies that did not exist at the time they were awarded. We are fitting meters in every house in the country that will be not be required until 2019 at the earliest and will be obsolete by the time they are required. When will the Government learn that enough is enough? It is flogging a dead horse. It will not be the same as a gas or an electricity utility, as my colleague said a few moments ago. Everything about it is protected by law. We were told earlier on that it will not be privatised without some sort of a plebiscite. Does the Government think that we are all fools? Does it think the people of Ireland are total and utter idiots?

This Bill is a Trojan horse. It is here to protect a company that has been flawed from the outset. The Government is giving out grants to households. This is a conservation grant where I do not have to prove that I did anything for it. We do not know what the cost of administering that grant is but my understanding is that it is about €650,000. This is to administer the payment of a grant for doing nothing.