Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I trust Irish Water will be enshrined in public ownership forever. I hope, therefore, that what Senator Darragh O'Brien has said about it being privatised down the track is completely wrong.

At this point we must be visionaries. As the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine often says, water and food are two of our most valuable resources. We must get the infrastructure right. I have just met somebody downstairs who has a great interest in water provision and agriculture. The dairy sector has never been discussed here, but cows drink six times the amount of water humans do. We need to consider the explosion that will occur in the dairy industry.

That brings me to the mother ship of Irish Water. I was very disappointed that my amendment which would have removed section 15 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act that gave the agency immunity from prosecution had been ruled out of order owing to the fact that it involved a potential charge on the Exchequer. The EPA has one of the greatest responsibilities to perform for us taxpayers. It is the protector and watchdog of our water supply, rivers, oceans, fish, the environment, the air we breath, land, soil and the food we grow to safeguard the health, well-being and future of the people. These are all under its control, but it has immunity and does not answer to the Minister. We must know that it is the mother ship of Irish Water. A report carried out by a review group set up by a former Minister, Mr. John Gormley, in 2010 found that the agency's absolute immunity should be revised at the earliest opportunity and that it might be unconstitutional. To date, no Minister has shown me legal advice from the Attorney General on whether it is constitutional.I will return to it on Report Stage.

I refer the Minister to a letter that the Irish Environmental Forum sent to the Taoiseach on 23 June 2014 as an official complaint about the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA:

Minister Hogan has been aware for some time, having taken over the position of Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, that licences had been granted by the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of the Irish State which allow damage to be caused to the environment and human health. Minister Hogan is refusing to have these complaints investigated under the standard reply as he is precluded from doing so within the EPA Act. Such an excuse does not, in our eyes, allow Minister Hogan to stand idly by and allow the EPA to carry on in such a reckless manner.

The Irish Timespublished an article with the headline, "Seven Irish plants among 'most damaging' in Europe, says agency." The agency referred to is the European Environmental Agency, EEA, and the seven plants are Moneypoint, Aughinish Alumina, ESB Poolbeg, Edenderry Power, ESB West Offaly Power, Synergen Power, which is in Ringsend, and Viridian Power, Huntstown, County Dublin. The EEA is a highly respected agency and is staffed by scientists including Professor Jacqueline McGlade, as well as many other renowned professionals. As part of its European study into industrial facilities and their emissions, it found that the seven plants had damaged the environment and human health through their emissions of ammonia, nitrous oxides and carbon dioxide. In 2009, they cost the Irish State up to €1 billion in monetary terms, at a time when we could not afford it. It is a fact, and the Minister should write it down. Yesterday evening, my amendment was ruled out of order because it involved a potential charge to the Exchequer. If seven plants are costing us €1 billion because of their emissions, the EPA needs to stand up and be transparent and accountable to the Minister and make certain that no plant in this beautiful country of ours ever has the opportunity to pollute or potentially cause harm to our citizens' health, our agricultural industry, our land, our animals or the food we grow.