Micheál Martin: Axe Irish Water and give responsibility to councils

Irish Water needs to be abolished and have its responsibilities given back to local councils in order to save the taxpayer money, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted.

Speaking at his party’s pre-Dáil term think-in in Dublin, Mr Martin said a streamlined authority for overseeing water supply, modelled on the National Roads Authority (now part of a merger with t he Railway Procurement Agency called Transport Infrastructure Ireland) would be needed to co-ordinate strategic decisions.

He warned Irish Water had been allowed to become a bloated organisation which now needed to be got rid of. He said the NRA worked well with local councils in road building, and should be used as a model for a new overseeing organisation for water supply.