Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In regard to the raw sewage that is still being pumped in various places throughout the country, the 28 million litres that are being saved per day, as the Minister of State mentioned, the 24 treatment plants, the 32 plants upgraded and the 750 km of piping laid since Irish Water took over, let us imagine how much more raw sewage we could have stopped being pumped into our waterways, how many more plants could have been built, how many more plants could have been upgraded and how many more kilometres of pipes could have been laid if we had not thrown €785 million down the drain. The Minister of State is correct in saying that €400 million has been spent this year, give or take, that approximately €350 million was spent last year and that in the region of €300 million was invested the year before. As Senator Darragh O'Brien said, that is still €200 million less than was being spent at the height of the crash in 2010. The reality is that we have thrown good money after bad. I have clearly outlined the scaling back which prevents the capacity to cater for the rising population to which the Minister of State referred. That is what needs to be acknowledged. Even given the little bit of work that has been done, which cost €200 million less than the spending at the height of the crisis, as we have seen, can anyone imagine how much our local authorities could have achieved throughout the country in Waterford, Tipperary, Sligo, Fingal or Dublin city in making those improvements? If we split up that €785 million three years ago and said, "That is for you, that is for you and that is for you", how much work would have been done?

Let us use one of Irish Water's own figures, namely, the €1.5 billion required to upgrade the system nationally. My God. If we had a Minister worth his or her salt and a Government with the ambition and vision to do it, we could have had our existing staff, who have service level agreements with Irish Water, roll out half of those improvements already with the €785 million and have €35 million to spare.