In 2009 the now Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, published the NewERA policy platform of Fine Gael, which committed Fine Gael to establishing Irish Water as a utility to charge for water. This was the clear stated policy of Fine Gael at the time. I would like to know who advised Deputy Coveney at the time on this policy and whether his policy advisers had fully thought through the proposal itself. When Fine Gael came into government it hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to advise it on the best way to establish Irish Water in line with its policy. What is interesting is that the PwC report gave 17 disadvantages as to why the Government should not proceed the way it did in establishing Irish Water as a subsidiary of a State agency, one being less flexibility in establishing the terms and conditions for new members of the workforce and in determining the most appropriate mix. Another was the level of external support required to plan, manage and execute the integration of Irish Water into an existing utility, and another that multi-utilities tend not to achieve synergies anticipated. Consequently PwC stated that on balance, it saw no compelling reason to assign responsibility for water services provision to another State agency.

The Government ignored this advice for some reason. Was it lobbied? Did somebody tell it to ignore it and go the route it eventually went? It is because of taking this route and ignoring this advice that the Government now has the bonus payment culture where people will get bonuses for underperforming. This is why the set-up costs were enormous at €180 million, including consultants. The Government was warned about this too. This is why in the full cost recovery model there are call-out charges of €188, and €282 if it is outside normal hours, which are frightening people. The other day I met a young couple starting out who are facing a €7,000 connection bill in a built-up area-----

The Government is on the ropes.

-----although they had already paid €12,000 to the local authority in development levies for water infrastructure. What is the Taoiseach's response to all of this? It is shabby and sleveen to undermine the chief executive officer, a process that started at last week's parliamentary party meeting when unparliamentary things were said about him behind closed doors, but cleverly leaked out to pave the way for a week-----

A question please.

-----of sniping and underhand indications that his position was coming under threat. Has any member of the Government or anyone in government approached the chairperson of Irish Water with a view to the CEO stepping down? We had many briefings yesterday from five or six Ministers across the board, all of them refusing in any shape or form to endorse the management.

I thank the Deputy.

Given the debacle we have and given that 1 million people have not even signed up, will the Taoiseach consider suspending the application of water charges pending a full independent review of the structures the Government has set up-----

We are well over time. Come on.

-----and in terms of developing a proper plan with ability to pay central to it?

I thank Deputy Martin. The position has been very clear for some time that this State has never invested to the extent it should have in the provision of proper infrastructure for water.

Are we the devil, so?

No one, irrespective of political affiliations, can argue with the point that something needed to be done in respect of the poor quality of water and of treatment works in many areas, that 40% of water has been leaking away-----

It is still leaking.

-----and that the charge of producing that water is very costly. No one can argue with that. When Government considered it-----

Super quango.

-----given the calamitous economic circumstances in which Fianna Fáil left the country, looking at the question of how we could invest to improve the quality, volume and integrity of the water system for the next 50 years, the Government made its decision after having looked at the PricewaterhouseCoopers report. The question was whether we should set up Irish Water as an entity on its own, or as an entity that might be amalgamated or part of another commercial company, such as Bord na Móna or Bord Gáis Éireann. Despite the fact PwC made recommendations, the Government made its decision on the basis of setting up Irish Water with a view to being able to borrow off balance sheet to provide decent investment for infrastructure for water for business and for domestic consumers alike. The Government made its decision after very careful deliberation.

As the Deputy knows, by the end of November the merged unitary board of Ervia and Irish Water will take place because the remit of the current board ends at the end of November. The decision to have a unitary board with personnel with specialist credentials will obviously apply.

It is not a case of call-out charges having been endorsed or approved at a level of €188. I have no idea where that came from, but the regulator may be addressing that at the Oireachtas committee meeting today.

The Deputy referred to the shabby treatment of the chief executive officer.

A good Tipperary man.

I am aware of the chief executive officer's very long service to the public in general, with a lifetime career in it. I have every confidence Mr. John Tierney can do his job.

Where is he hiding?

Could the Taoiseach not find him last night?

The remark that was made by a Deputy at last week's Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting was withdrawn. The Government recognises there are legitimate areas of public concern, on which the Government reflected this morning and on which the Government will act.

The Deputy mentioned suspending water charges. I am not sure where he is coming from now because his party's programme following the troika stated there should be a minimum charge of €400 with no allowances. Fianna Fáil's budgetary position from last week refers to reducing the impact of water charges. It stated that the imposition of water charges will be a significant burden on all households and that Fianna Fáil was committed to an examination of the structure of water charges to introduce a greater degree of fairness and recognition of ability to pay. I understand the concern about ability to pay. However, Fianna Fáil did not include anything about suspension of water charges in its budgetary submission last week.

We did not know about the bonuses.

Nor is it included in its Private Members' motion scheduled for debate this evening. It seems that Fianna Fáil Members are scared witless of the guys on their right hand side and they are scared witless of the guys to the left of them.

The Taoiseach did not answer my first question.

And rightly so.

I do not believe he answered the second one either.

Did any member of Government approach the chairperson of Irish Water-----

No.

-----with a view to the CEO's position? I had asked the Taoiseach that question.

They will yet.

I can answer truthfully. To my knowledge, the answer to that question is "No".

Not yet.

Why did the Government ignore the PwC recommendation? I will tell the Taoiseach why I believe it did. I think it was politically preordained that it was going to Bord Gáis Éireann. That is my view.

Does the Deputy have a supplementary question?

While it might not have stated "under no circumstances", it gave 17 compelling reasons it should not be merged within an existing semi-State entity. At the end it stated: "Recent examples (such as Welsh Water, the former United Utilities and Hyder Group) indicate that multi utilities tend not to achieve the synergies anticipated." Ministers and the Taoiseach are wringing their hands about the bonus culture.

A question, please.

The reason there is a bonus culture is that the Government took a decision to have it as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireann from day one. If the Taoiseach and the Ministers were honest, they should stop going around saying: "Oh, horror, horror, horror; there are bonuses being paid." They knew that from the beginning.

The Deputy should ask a supplementary question. We are over time.

It was a political decision that the Government took and that is why we have the bonus culture.

Christmas is coming.

That is why we have the excessive costs associated with the establishment of Irish Water.

I ask the Deputy to put his supplementary question.

Only two weeks ago the Taoiseach said in the Dáil that no bonuses were paid. He gave a strong indication that no bonuses would be paid and he skirted around it. The "This Week" programme on RTE Radio 1-----

The Deputy is not listening to me. He is way over time.

Apologies, a Cheann Comhairle. That programme revealed the bonus culture. One million people have not signed up. People do not know whether they are coming or going regarding the water charges regime. They only finally learnt about a day before the charges were applied.

Would the Deputy put his question?

The thing is a mess and it is causing huge social upheaval and a lot of anger.

It was a mess Fianna Fáil left us.

Sorry, Deputy.

This is the final point I will make. The Government rammed this through the House last Christmas with three hours of debate. For the first and only time, the Opposition combined to walk out of the House. The Government Deputies laughed at us for walking out of the House.

Sorry, Deputy.

They are not laughing today.

This is Leaders' Questions. Would the Deputy please put a question?

They will not be laughing for a long time to come because of that jackboot type of tactic.

I thank the Deputy.

These issues could have been teased out and could have been debated properly, but-----

I am asking the Deputy for the third time to put his supplementary question.

-----because of the Taoiseach and the Government Whip, Deputy Kehoe, we never got a chance to debate it for even more than two hours.

Government Members have no water to wash the smiles off their faces.

I do not know what the question is.

I do not believe Deputy Martin's heart is in this at all.

Is the Taoiseach's?

He talks about Government ignoring advice.

We know where the Taoiseach's head is.

Government is about making decisions. Does Deputy Martin not recall the €7 million of taxpayers' money his Government paid to an international firm that advised it against the bank guarantee which was supposed to deliver the cheapest bailout in history? Does he not remember that?

Fine Gael voted for it.

Does he not remember the advice that Government got that it could save 1 billion quid and not be taking it from old people? The Deputy himself was advised by two senior civil servants and of course he had no responsibility for this at all. Deputy Martin talks about the bonus culture. As I have said quite clearly, the Government does not set the pay model or pay scales for commercial companies.

Deputy Rabbitte approved it-----

Would Deputies please stay quiet?

-----when he was Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Sorry, Deputy Fleming, we cannot hear.

The Government was warned not to go down this route because it could not control it.

No one I know complains about the efficiency, work rate, productivity or output of Ervia-Bord Gáis Éireann. The unions in that company accepted the pay model set out for them by their board. That puts an element of their pay at risk. Unless they perform they will not get that element of that pay. I do not believe that anyone who underperforms should be given a bonus or performance pay in the first place.

I thank the Taoiseach.

The targets set for Ervia have been quite stringent. I confirmed to the Deputy in the Dáil last week that no one in Irish Water had received a bonus.

Yet.

Deputy Martin is flexible with his language here.

The Taoiseach is minimalist with his.

The Taoiseach did not tell us they would be getting it.

There is a pay freeze until 2016, as the Deputy is aware.

Sorry, Taoiseach, we are over time.

It is not a case of the Government-----

The media were looking for the information all week and for some reason it was not available.

Sorry, will you stop shouting? Thank you.

-----setting out the pay scales for a commercial State company.

No, because it is embarrassing to the Government.

Mr. Tierney was brought in after this was set up and he cannot be blamed for that.

Sorry, Taoiseach, we are over time.

Thousands are registering every day for Irish Water. It behoves us as a Government in the political sphere where we can make decisions to be clear and decisive in order that the public can have confidence that the reasons for Irish Water being set up are in the nation's interest.

These are the provision of clean water, drinking water-----

Expensive water.

-----proper infrastructure and treatment works that stand up to scrutiny. The company, the same as any other commercial semi-State company, should deliver efficiently and effectively in the interest of its customers. That is where we need to get to. Clearly we have a number of issues to deal with and they will be dealt with shortly.

The Taoiseach is on the ropes.