Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----that tied our country's hands in terms of water charges in this country.

Regarding some of the investments, it is a fact that since Irish Water was established, 34 new treatment plants, including 26 for wastewater and eight for drinking water, have been installed around the country. In my county, the seven villages sewerage scheme has ensured that we now have blue flag beaches right across the coast of County Waterford because we do not have raw sewage going out into the sea waters of the coast. That is what this is about. It is about installing infrastructure that will secure quality services and clean, environmental, sustainable services for the future of our country. Furthermore, more than 47 water conservation projects have been completed and 452 km of mains pipe has been remediated by Irish Water. Close to 800,000 water meters have been installed. We need a fair system, which is why the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, and I introduced the capped charge system. Two out of five households in this country that were metered were beating the capped charge, and that is a fact-----