Could the Deputy Leader make arrangements for the appropriate Minister who I presume is the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to come to the House and answer some questions about Irish Water in particular? On this occasion, I am not talking specifically about the charges although they are areas we all want to discuss as usual. We might ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to come to the House so that we could discuss with him the schedule of capital projects that would have been planned by the various local authorities in the context of their water and wastewater treatment and the fact that given that responsibility for all of these plans comes under the remit of Irish Water, there is very real concern and a good bit of anecdotal evidence to suggest that projects that were expected to begin in the short term are now very much on the long finger because of the very significant cost base on which Irish Water runs.

In Sligo what is referred to colloquially as the bundle scheme relates to villages I am sure people are aware of - Grange in north county Sligo, Strandhill, which is west of Sligo town and Tubbercurry, which is south of Sligo town and is the country's second largest town. These villages have all been waiting for some considerable period for a new sewerage treatment plan. The previous Government made available a 90% subvention for those programmes to go ahead. They have yet to go ahead. Sligo County Council needs them to go ahead. We are in a position to move on them but it is now the case that Irish Water is long fingering them. The populations of these villages throughout the country face the difficulty of having to pay for water in the first instance. We saw how in the context of the Roscommon-Leitrim by-election, the Government has postponed costs, and rightly so, for the people of Roscommon because they have dirty water. We have substandard sewerage treatment facilities in Grange in north county Sligo, Strandhill west of Sligo town and Tubbercurry in south County Sligo. Now that they are paying for everything, people are entitled to know when these works will be carried out. They were ready to go pre-Irish Water. Now that we have Irish Water, the matter seems to be pushed very far down the list and I would like some clarification on that. I know that a specific case might be more appropriate to Adjournment Matters but I know that there are examples of this in every local authority area and the Minister ought to give us an indication as to who is in charge, what the timetable for events that were planned is and when people can expect work and improvements on the ground.

I agree with Senator MacSharry. I called yesterday for a debate on Uisce Éireann. My major concern is for the consumers to get the best deal possible and they will not get that from a public service monopoly which has already started in a way that certainly does not apply cost-effectiveness across the board and which is merely another quango. This has been exposed in this House by the Minister who was involved in setting it up.

It also worries me that people who are campaigning against water charges and who know they are going to continue are now out of the other side of their mouths articulating and promoting a policy that it should be privatised or part privatised. This is the position of Sinn Féin. The double speak is absolutely alarming - that people would go forward and campaign on one basis and then look to have it privatised so they can distance themselves from the charges. If there is one thing-----

Does the Senator have a question for the Deputy Leader?

I am asking the Deputy Leader for a debate on this because if there is one thing worse than a public monopoly, it is a private monopoly. The issue should be debated fully and some of the pseudo-arguments being put out should be analysed, challenged and disposed of.

I also want to raise the issue that was raised briefly yesterday by one of my colleagues, namely, the issue of the Central Bank making decisions with regard to controlling lending to people who seek to provide a house from their own resources. Obviously, many of us here who did that throughout our lifetimes could not have done it without access to credit. I do not deny that prudence is needed in the area but I feel that the Central Bank has shown itself to be disconnected from promoting a system where people of reasonable and average means will be able to aspire to purchasing a house for themselves. Many people would be put outside it by this particular approach. I think we need a full debate here with the Minister involved during the period during which the Central Bank is involved in consultation. It is easy for people in the Central Bank, who are on high salaries and have never worked anywhere other than the public service, to be making decisions such as this. They have never had to meet the challenges that many working people out there, particularly in the private sector, have had to meet.