Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, Fianna Fáil’s manifesto states it wants to abolish Irish Water, a position common to many parties. Hopefully, the situation will resolve itself after the general election. The Minister of State has come a bit of the way from what Ministers have said before. It seems the Minister of State is not saying “No” to this but is not saying “Yes” either. She is merely saying that local authorities and Irish Water should work together. Is this not what the Minister of State and her boss, the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, should say to Irish Water, namely, sort this out with the local authorities where it was done before? Clearly, there are problematic estates dotted around the country, usually at least 40 years old and some are ex-local authority and not all privately built. They need this occasional service which was always provided to continue. These people simply cannot understand, now that they are paying for water and sewage charges, why this is not provided.

Will the Minister of State get the local authorities and the Irish Water - the staff of which will be transferred back to local authorities after the election - to knock heads together to get this done? It is mainly elderly people in general who are affected by this.