Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hold the Minister in the highest esteem, but this sham of a Bill is exactly what Senator Coffey described. It is a hodgepodge that was put together to secure an agreement to form a Government. The charges are suspended for nine months. In nine months' time, now that over 45% of people who were paying their bills have stopped paying, is anybody seriously telling me that they will start paying again once we agree on a payment method? We have had Lisbon treaty two and any other two one cares to think about, and now we will have "water two" in the not too distant future. We will have to find a nice new way of packaging the water problem and getting people to pay for it. That is what we will have to do regardless of which part of the political divide one is on and regardless of what stick I will take on social media tonight.

What has happened here is a disaster. Irish Water was a disaster from day one. Everything about the establishment of the organisation was a disaster. Those who were involved with its establishment, both on the political and administrative side, have ridden off over the hill with their large salaries or pensions and have left a disaster behind. I agree with Senator Coffey that the Labour Party took the greatest hit for Irish Water. I had much respect for the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly. He tried his damnedest to run this thing through. Senator Coffey was with him in that, but perhaps they should have rolled back on the nights when we were in this Chamber until 3.30 in the morning pointing out that this was going to end in tears.