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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Vol. 840 No. 1

Water Charges: Motion [Private Members]

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes:

— the commitment of the Taoiseach to inform the Houses of the Oireachtas of the standard level of water charges prior to the 23 May election; and

— protracted Government delays in providing information to the public and the Commission for Energy Regulation in regard to the level of free allowance, low income household subvention, rebates, first fix policy and ongoing total level of public subvention;

further notes:

— that the Central Statistics Office calculated an average bill of €240 per household based on current public expenditure subvention levels;

— reports of an average €50 standing charge per household regardless of water use; and

— that just one out of four houses will be metered by the time charges will be introduced, leaving over 1 million households without meters facing fixed bills;

condemns the:

— cynical, politically motivated delay of information on what level of water charges households will have to pay;

— failure to outline how unmetered households will be charged;

— lack of consideration being given to ability to pay; and

— unsustainable burden of a water tax being placed at this time on home owners in addition to a doubling of the property tax on the family home and other stealth taxes;

and

calls and agrees that:

— the Government should publish the full details of its water charges policy before 23 May so that home owners are made fully aware of the costs they face;

— any water pricing system should be introduced only after the water infrastructure is made fit for purpose, and must encompass the ability to pay of low income households, differential water usage by individuals with special needs such as medical requirements and large families; and

— rebates should be considered and disclosed for properties that will not be metered prior to the introduction of charges.

I intend to share time with Deputies Michael McGrath, Niall Collins and Browne. I apologise on behalf of my colleague Deputy Barry Cowen, who has a family commitment this evening. He assures me, and he is keen to assure the Minister, that he will be here in fine fettle tomorrow night.

Despite the big announcement and the drama and spin today, there are still serious questions this evening over the Government's water charges regime as well as the long-term implications for users, families, taxpayers and those on low and fixed incomes.

We welcome the fact that this motion finally forced the Government, particularly the Labour Party, to come clean on their charges. I know it was the ambition of the Government, and the Labour Party in particular, to avoid having to do that ahead of the local and European elections. Anyway, substantial questions remain and this evening's announcement is not the end of the matter. We still do not know the precise charges that will apply to hard-pressed families and water users throughout the country. The €240 is an estimate and gives no certainty to anyone. I gather we will have to wait until August.

Despite all of the political pirouetting of recent weeks, this is the figure that Labour promised Fine Gael would deliver in 2011. At least it is an election promise that Labour has kept.

There is no guarantee of service and there is a vague commitment on capital investment. Despite Government assertions of underinvestment, during our time in government €2 billion was invested in water services. That investment was made through local authorities around the country, many of which were controlled by the Minister's party and Labour. The criticisms by Fine Gael backbenchers of the inefficiencies of that investment can be left at their door.

Despite €180 million of local property tax being invested in Irish Water, not a single cent of this was spent on fixing leaking pipes or addressing problems with quality in many parts of the country. In the Minister's remarks, he might address the issue of water charges for the 1 million households that will still be without meters when charges kick in next October. Despite an accelerated metering programme, more than half of the country's houses will be without meters at the end of this year, which is the end of the first quarter of charging. As such, there will be a flat charge for hundreds of thousands of households at least until they get meters, which will possibly be as late as 2016. They have no certainty about this flat charge.

The commitments in respect of water allowances for children and a cap on charges for people with special needs are vague and have definitely been determined in a pre-election period. No detail of the medical conditions that will qualify people to receive discounts has been provided. This will require consultation between the Ministers, Deputies Hogan and Reilly, and the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER. We have seen the hames being made of discretionary medical cards by the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly. Will this be a repeat of that fiasco?

The Minister, Deputy Hogan, stated that €40 million would come from the Department of Social Protection. Will it be from existing budgets or must there be a Supplementary Estimate for that Department? Many of the measures to be undertaken by the Department will be tagged onto the household benefits package, which the Government has driven a coach and four through in every budget since entering office in 2011. There used to be a telephone allowance; there is none now. There used to be an electricity allowance; it is much reduced. I predict that the €100 water allowance will go the same way as the telephone allowance as long as the Government is in power.

The debacle of Irish Water's establishment and the manner in which the regime, limited as it is, had to be dragged out has undermined public confidence in that utility company. Water is essential and there is much to be done in terms of conservation and investment, but forcing a model on people that is completely based on charges instead of investing in the service or encouraging people to conserve is not the way to go. However, it is the way the Minister has outlined.

Those houses that will not be metered face serious questions. Apparently, they will be assessed based on the number of adults and children in each house. Had the Minister listened to the public debate at any stage, he would have heard that adults differ, children differ and, depending on age, people have different usages. He would also have heard medical experts this evening discussing various needs arising from medical conditions.

For an unmetered house where there is no ability to measure or to see the impact of conservation, it is all pi in the sky. These houses need some certainty. Will they be the ones that pay for the Minister's deal with the Labour Party? Will the fact that they do not have meters mean they can be played around with until such time as their meters are installed, making them the profit centre for Irish Water in an attempt to alleviate the political pressure on the Labour Party?

The Minister has yet to provide the CER with the policy framework it needs to proceed with the exact pricing structure. He is delaying four key items on which it is waiting, including the level of the free allowance, which he has decided will be 30,000 litres. Given that the average usage in a house is 140,000 litres, this allowance is a far way off. Even when the 38,000 litre allowance for under 18 year olds is added, the overall allowance is still far short of what many families will use, not in a wasteful way or one that requires conservation, but in the normal day-to-day family home scenario.

There is a vagueness about the level of public subvention. Irish Water's questions and answers document, which was released this evening, highlights this vagueness as well as the difficulties it presents to Irish Water in calculating a pricing structure. The Minister has announced a first fix policy, which is interesting and welcome, but this will use some €50 million of the extra €200 million investment under the capital programme. There will be a no fix policy for other repairs and people will need to pay for them to be done. Given the state of much of the infrastructure, will they still be required to pay if the faults are not theirs?

The linkage between low-income household supports and the household package and the vagueness around the funding of low-income household supports raise questions and doubts.

The estimated bills, as outlined by the Minister today, will be approximately €240 per household. This figure could increase under various economic models to €580, depending on public subvention levels. This is similar to the property tax. The Government introduced it, then doubled it. It will be subject to further increases in the coming years.

For many householders, the difficulty lies in the fact that they are paying local service charges and will soon pay water charges. The combined amounts will hammer households, making them fear for their ability to pay this charge. They must know what they will get in return. If people are in metered houses, they need to know that they will no longer have access to the information contained in the meters after next August because it will be the property of Irish Water. This is unlike the case of electricity meters, where people can see the information. What kind of information will bills give them on their usage? What certainty will there be for people who engage in conservation and follow the advice that sages in the Minister's party have been giving in various media outlets this evening? Some of the most unlikely Fine Gael Deputies have the zeal of the Green Party as regards water conservation. If people follow that advice, will they be able to see it working? Will they have access to Irish Water's information?

Given how quickly the metering programme has proceeded to date, is there not a case to be made for extra investment to ensure we reduce the number of unmetered households to below the expected mark before billing begins? Can Irish Water not use some of its money wisely for a change? The water charging system must be efficient and coherent. It must encourage water preservation while creating a sustainable funding base so as to secure the supply of water for business and domestic users. However, households cannot be expected to pay for a service that does not deliver or give them information or clarity on the costs.

Consider the different water leakage rates around the country - 16% in south Dublin and, I gather, 60% in Kerry. The national leakage rate is 40%. This shows why there must be a coherent, sustained and ambitious roll-out of mains renewal and serious investment. A case must be made for the Minister to invest further in the network and to consider various funding options, for example, the European Investment Bank, EIB, and other available schemes. Focusing investment would create employment. Then the Minister could tell people that the money being spent on Irish Water was being spent in the right way.

The Minister has not given the precise details on the formation of Irish Water or its expenditure on consultancies. Its set-up costs have been incredibly high, yet not a single cent has yet been spent on the network. The lack of information and wastage of resources have left public confidence in Irish Water low even before it begins in its role. There is significant public confidence in many of our utilities, for example, ESB. In order for people to have such confidence in Irish Water, we need clarity as well as scrutiny of its expenditure, employment practices and plans on rolling out this project.

The way in which Irish Water was established is coming back to haunt the Minister. The debate was rammed through the Dáil on its last sitting day in 2013. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, promised to amend the Bill, as Irish Water was initially not subject to freedom of information requests. This situation needs to be clarified so as to build confidence among the public that their money is being spent properly.

Will the Minister clarify a couple of issues? What are the prospects for unmetered houses?

What is the highest amount they will pay, or is it in the Minister's gift to establish a maximum amount they will have to pay? Second, where will the €40 million come from within the Department of Social Protection budget? The Minister, Deputy Burton, in her parish newsletter in the Sunday Independent last weekend, promised that there will not be any cuts in the Department of Social Protection budget but less than 48 hours after it was published, we have a €40 million-----

That is a good one.

-----find in the Department's budget. Did the Minister go in wearing a balaclava and take it from her or is it a cut in the Department of Social Protection budget? Even for the Labour Party a broken promise within 48 hours is a record. The Minister might clarify that.

They are looking after Niall as well.

Deputy Calleary without interruption, Minister.

They are advising you well.

Minister, allow Deputy Calleary to speak without interruption.

Regarding the household benefits package-----

They are keeping an eye on you too, Minister.

Owen is advising you well.

Minister, will you allow Deputy Calleary to continue?

(Interruptions).

Old friends are best.

-----can the Minister give a guarantee that the commitment he has given today on the €100 for older people will not go the same way as the telephone allowance and the electricity allowance? If it does, that promise given today will be as good as that given by the Minister, Deputy Burton, last Sunday.

Many issues remain regarding Irish Water. There is still zero public confidence in Irish Water. There is still zero political confidence, even on the benches behind the Minister, in Irish Water. The charade of recent weeks is all about the elections on 23 May, and nothing else. The so-called fight within Government over the level of charges to households has ended up bringing us back to exactly where we were in February 2011, when Labour predicted that Fine Gael would introduce a fee of €238; the fee has increased. It predicted that in 2011 and promised it would stop it, but here we are tonight facing a minimum charge of €238 for those fortunate enough to be metered. For those unmetered that could increase to God knows what amount. That is a great result for the so-called party of the lower classes. I look forward to the Minister using this debate to bring clarity to the various issues. I look forward also to my colleague concluding the debate.

At the outset I compliment Deputy Barry Cowen for drafting the motion and my colleague, Deputy Calleary, for moving the motion.

As the Minister is well aware, many people are already to the pin of their collar to get by financially on a week to week basis. Putting aside the jockeying and the politics of Fine Gael and Labour on this issue over the past three weeks, the bottom line is that the introduction of water meters here will be the straw that breaks the camel's back for many families.

I have learned from examining statistics down the years that averages can be very misleading, and it is worth teasing out in more detail some of the facts the Minister put on the record today by way of the Government decision. The average charge of €240 per household includes households where there is only one occupant, therefore, the average is immediately dragged down by that fact because it includes all those people. On the "Six One News" a couple of hours ago the Minister made the point that the average gross charge per adult is €138; therefore, for two adults in a house the average charge is almost €280, not €240 because the €240 includes properties occupied by only one adult.

Economies of scale.

That is what you put on the record earlier, and I am not sure that the economies of scale apply to that extent.

I am surprised you did not know that as an accountant.

Members should speak through the Chair. Continue, Deputy McGrath.

If we examine the figures we will see that the people who will be crucified by what the Minister is introducing will be families with grown up children still living with them. He is providing a free allowance of 38,000 litres for a child under the age of 18 but many people in leaving certificate year are 18 or even 19 years of age or they are attending college for a number of years. The reality is that a household with two parents and two or three grown up children over the age of 18 could be facing a water charges bill of €600 or €700 per annum, even based on the Minister's own figures. We know that young adults will use a great deal of water because they are involved in sport, and they socialise. Their use of water will be far greater than that of the children for whom the Minister has provided a free allowance of 38,000 litres. The reality is that where there are more than two adults in the house, families with grown up children still in school or starting off in the workforce, they will be facing savage water bills in the years ahead. In many cases the bills for those people will be €600 and €700.

The obvious place to start in all of this is to fix the system. It is daft to have contractors installing water meters around the country when the Minister confessed that approximately 40% of the water generated is leaking from the pipes and going into the ground. That does not make any sense. The Government has access to a National Pensions Reserve Fund of over €6 billion. That could be leveraged for a commercial project such as this one, which has the potential to deliver a return in the long term by initially fixing the water system so we can eliminate the leaks. Most Irish people are fair-minded. If they have a proper quality water supply where the issue of outages is kept to an absolute minimum, they are open to paying for good quality water, but that is not the situation now facing them.

The Minister made great play about the fact that the standing charge has disappeared but the spokesperson for Irish Water made it very clear on "Drivetime" a few hours ago that, in effect, the standing charge is now being incorporated into the per litre charge that will be charged on households. How else can a situation be arrived at where the average figure is remaining the same? The average figure before the standing charge was removed was €240. The average figure now with the standing charge gone is still €240. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister have been going around saying that people will get a very generous free allowance. The impression was given that if people are prudent and sensible with their use of water they will not have much of a water charge. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Minister said the average use of water for an adult is approximately 78,000 litres, therefore, for two people it will be in the region of 150,000 litres. The allowance being given to that household is 20% of that, namely, 30,000 litres. The notion, therefore, that people are being given a generous free allowance does not stand up to scrutiny. People will be charged, and the standing charge is being built into the per litre charge for the water being charged on people.

A fundamental issue relates to quality. The Minister said in his statement today that Irish Water will have to take account of the quality of services provided to customers, including circumstances where services are reduced or restricted due to boil water notices etc. As the Minister is well aware, there are very localised problems in many cases. I received an e-mail the other day from a constituent who told me her tale about the quality of the water supply. There was no boil water notice issued in her area but her experience was one of broken pipes as the system is so old. She stated:

Normally, when we finally do get connected we have to run off gallons of thick, brown water and this can take as long as an hour or more. However, who is going to pay for all the water run off in the kitchen, the bathroom, the toilet etc.? Who will clean out the sludge from the cold water tank and the toilet cisterns? On occasions, even after over an hour, we still have to boil the water so that it is usable. If I am in the middle of a clothes wash, the washing has to be rewashed as clothes are dirty brown.

That is the reality for many people in terms of their experience of water quality. In many cases the quality is very poor, and we have not had a satisfactory explanation as to how Irish Water will take account of that quality issue, which is a real problem for many families.

I do not understand the reason bonuses are being built into the Irish Water structure before a single pipe in the country has been fixed. There should be no suggestion of that.

The Minister said approximately 1 million meters will be installed. As I understand it, based on the local property tax system, there are approximately 2 million properties in the country. Leaving aside group water schemes and so on the Minister should be able to provide a breakdown of how these 2 million properties are to be treated for water charges into the future.

There is no doubt but that the public takes a cynical view of politics in general in this country. This is evident from the opinion polls and the dissatisfaction ratings of the Government and all political parties. It is worrying and disturbing that a large section of our society is cynical about the way in which politics in this country is being conducted. The evolution of Irish Water and the progression to charging for the supply of water in this country, broken promises, spin, vagueness, couching of language and general attempts by Government to avoid telling the public what they want to know are among the reasons for this cynicism. To use the Taoiseach's words, "Paddy likes to know". Unfortunately, Paddy is not being told the truth or, at least, the whole truth in relation to the charging structure coming down the tracks from Government and Irish Water. That is regrettable.

I believe this motion forced the Government's hand. The statement made today by the Government is shrouded in vagueness. During the recent progression of the Freedom of Information Bill 2013 through the House many Government Deputies who seek to be champions of freedom of information happily voted to exempt Irish Water from that legislation.

Another issue of concern is that of bonuses within the new entity of Irish Water. Irish Water has rightly been described as a bonus-driven, out-of-control super quango. It is worrying that this recently established semi-State company, in advance of offering the public its services and a transparent water charging regime, is paying vast bonuses. I do not believe this should be permitted. The Government should have taken steps to address that. Following on from this is the issue of millions of euro expended by Irish Water on consultancy fees. The question that must be asked, in the context of the withdrawal of discretionary medical cards and queues at accident and emergency departments is whether this expenditure by a new entity was necessary. The public is very concerned and cynical.

Today we had various people, including members of the Labour Party, absent as usual from debates on Private Members' motions, trying to claim credit for what was announced, as if it was a type of political win. The Government needs to stop treating the public as fools and using people as a pawn in the middle of an election campaign. The public want to know where they stand. As outlined by the two previous speakers from this side, the €240 mentioned is, unfortunately, an average of what consumers will pay. We do not know the maximum or minimum payment or the amount of water to be provided free of charge. Can the Minister tell us how long 30,000 free litres will last on average? Also, as mentioned by Deputy Michael McGrath, what will be the free entitlement of a household in which there are a number of children over 18 years of age? How are people to afford this charge? This is the question foremost on people's minds.

The Minister has stated that equity and fairness will be ensured. As rightly stated earlier, no real element of equity or fairness was built into the household charge or local property tax. The property tax was subsequently doubled. People are focused on and concerned about this issue because they cannot afford a bill which could be anywhere north of €500. It would be great if every bill was €240 but that will not be the case. The Minister needs to tell us the maximum and minimum payments. We also need clarity in relation to the service level agreements. These 12 year agreements entered into by the local authorities with Irish Water were also shrouded in secrecy. I know that a number of local authorities produced their estimates without having had sight of the service level agreements, many of which arrived in the local authorities over the Christmas period. That is no way to reform local government or present Estimates.

Despite the transfer of billions of euro of assets to Irish Water the pension liabilities remain with local authorities. This leads to the conclusion that Irish Water may in future be privatised, which is also of concern. I would be obliged if the Minister when responding later would address those issues. Unfortunately, despite the announcement by Government today there is not clarity around this issue. The public is entitled to clarity. The Government can dress this up in PR speak all it wants but the public needs clarity. I do not believe the public got that today.

I compliment Deputies Cowen and Calleary on bringing this motion before the House tonight. Given the Labour Party's position prior to the last general election was to oppose the introduction of water charges, I never expected to be debating the introduction of water charges in this House during the lifetime of this Government. The 2011 Labour Party manifesto states: "Labour does not favour water charges". On 18 February 2011, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, stated: "We are not in favour of water charges". On 28 June 2010, the Tánaiste in an article in The Irish Examiner states: "I am against water charges. Water is a necessity. I will always believe that essential services like water should be delivered as a public service." Obviously, somewhere along the way the Labour Party abandoned its ideals and the commitments it gave to the Irish people prior to the last general election.

What we are now faced with is the introduction of make-shift water charges. Serious questions arise in relation to the Government's proposed water charges regime and the long-term implications of this for taxpayers and social welfare recipients. We welcome that Fine Gael and the Labour Party have been forced to come clean on aspects of the water charges plan. Fine Gael in particular has been doing its utmost to avoid having to tell households ahead of the local and European elections how much they will have to pay for their water. The Government's hand was forced by the tabling of this motion which demands an end to the secrecy surrounding the water charges regime. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, focused in today's announcement on charges rather than water quality.

He did not outline any major investment in water networks. He gave no guarantee that families who fork out hundreds of euro per year for their water-----

That is phase 2.

-----will get a decent water supply or service. It is still the case that despite the tens of millions of euro in taxpayers' money pumped into the setting up of Irish Water, not a cent has gone towards fixing a leaky pipe or addressing serious problems with water quality in certain areas.

I am told by members of the local authority that if a constituent makes a complaint about a leak, he must contact Irish Water, which in turn contacts the local authority. The local water service man must then assess the leak, obtain three quotations for fixing it and send the details back to Irish Water before a decision is made on repairing it. Obviously, it is bureaucracy gone mad.

There is confusion surrounding the water charges for the 1 million households that will be still without meters when charges commence in October. We have heard all about the accelerated metering programme. The fact is that more than half of the houses in the country will still be without a meter at the end of the year. Irrespective of how the Government spins the matter, there will be flat-rate charges for hundreds of thousands of households for at least the first year. The Minister did not state today, but will perhaps clarify tonight, what he means by "flat rate charge". How much will a person have to pay if his house has no meter? It is important that the Minister be up-front and spell out what people will have to pay.

We are concerned that the commitment to a water allowance for children and the cap on charges for people with special needs is a very short-term commitment to salvage votes for Fine Gael and the Labour Party in the upcoming local and European elections. The Minister refers to special concessions but he did not state whether they will extend beyond 2016. Are they just short-term concessions? We all know of the series of reductions brought about by the Government affecting concessions for old age pensioners. I refer to the telephone and electricity allowances, the withdrawal of medical cards and all the areas that have been seriously hit. We would like the Minister to spell out clearly whether the special allowances will be short-term or long-term.

We have consistently opposed the Government's Irish Water charges model, which was rammed through the Dáil in order to avoid real scrutiny. This entirely new layer of bureaucracy, populated by highly paid consultants and which will involve unwarranted bonus payments, will be funded directly by water charges on ordinary homeowners and businesses across the country.

When the Minister established Irish Water, he ignored all the advice available to him. This was the case when he awarded the contract to Bord Gáis. The PwC report that was commissioned by the Government itself advised against using an existing State agency such as Bord Gáis as it would incur costs due to the level of external support required to plan, manage and execute the integration of Irish Water into an existing utility. The Government went against this advice and set up Uisce Éireann.

As Deputy Collins stated, the public is very concerned and annoyed about the significant payments to the employees of Irish Water. They are very concerned about the bonuses being paid to the senior staff in the organisation and they perceive a lack of transparency and accountability. Despite the efforts of every Deputy in this House to obtain some information on the costs involved in setting up Irish Water and those associated with consultants and advisers, no one seems to be able to get the exact figure from the Minister. I, along with the public, believe there will be an enormous cost. Some of the figures being bandied about indicate costs of well over €100,000 and €150,000, so the Minister needs to clarify the period for which costs will continue to arise.

The Minister, whom I saw on television today, made very clear that the regulator will have the final say. I have always had serious concerns about regulators having the final say-----

The Deputy’s party set them up.

-----because they never seem to take into account people's ability to pay. From having listened to the Minister this evening, I believe he seems to be saying again that the final decision will rest with the regulator.

With regard to the social protection budget, the Minister made great play about the concessions he will give to less well-off people in society. The concessions will amount to approximately €40 million in total and will come from the social protection budget. This raises alarm bells in respect of the impact on key social welfare supports. The Government has already slashed child benefit and cut a range of supports for people with disabilities and their carers. It has targeted young jobseekers. The Government needs to spell out exactly where the €40 million is to come from. Will it be taken from next year's budget or this year's? Will it require cuts to social welfare payments in the future?

Currently, responsibility for the supervision and licensing of group water schemes rests with local authorities. Will this continue to be the case? What is the position on the schemes? There are many such schemes in County Wexford. I am sure the Minister appreciates the great work being done voluntarily by those organising group water schemes throughout the country. I am sure he will clear up the matter tonight. Some groups feel under threat and that they will be forced to hand over their schemes to Irish Water eventually, although perhaps not this year or the next. Tremendous partnerships have existed between local authorities and group water schemes down through the years. This is the way to continue. Will future financing of group water schemes be carried out directly by the Government or Department, or will the funding have to come from Uisce Éireann? The Minister needs to clarify this. I hope that tonight, when he is responding, he will outline very clearly where he sees group water schemes fitting into the modern water scheme for the future. Will the group schemes continue to be under the control of local authorities or will they eventually be taken over by Uisce Éireann?

Despite the Minister’s announcement today, we have not got the full picture. It is a case of fobbing us off to get his party and the Labour Party over the local elections on 23 May. There is a lot of small print still to be issued and it will seriously affect people, who will have to pay more than €238 per annum. As some Deputies have pointed out tonight, they could be paying twice that by the time the full facts emerge on foot of the Minister's announcement today.

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

supports the establishment of Irish Water as a long-term strategic investment project to deliver the necessary water services infrastructure and quality of services required to meet statutory compliance and demographic needs;

recognises that managing our water resources effectively is also essential to ensure that Ireland can continue to attract major overseas investment and employment;

notes that the:

- programme for Government provides for the introduction of a fair funding model to deliver a clean and reliable water supply which will involve the installation of water meters in all households and the move to a charging system based on usage above a free allowance; and

- the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, which has been assigned responsibility for economic regulation of the water sector, commenced public consultation on the structure and design of tariffs for both the non-domestic and domestic sector on 17 April 2014 and will finalise the level and structure of the tariffs in August 2014;

welcomes the:

- progress with the roll-out of the domestic metering programme being delivered by Irish Water with over 200,000 meters installed to date, supporting some 1,150 jobs;

- commitment of Irish Water to maximise the delivery of the domestic metering programme in 2014, on foot of which it is expected that a further 40,000 to 50,000 meter installations is achievable over and above the 400,000 target for end-2014 already indicated to the CER;

- the indications that progress remains on track for the installation of 1.05 million meters, with programme completion likely to be ahead of the target - mid-2016 rather than end-2016; and

- fact that further options in relation to metering additional properties are under active consideration;

welcomes the Government's:

package of measures to ensure that domestic water charges are introduced in as fair and equitable basis as possible, with particular reference to the following elements:

- Irish Water's Government subvention in 2015 and 2016 to be conditional on the average annual domestic water charge not exceeding €240;

- each household will receive an annual free allowance of 30,000 litres of water and a corresponding allowance for wastewater;

- there will be an additional free allowance for every child under 18 to cover a child's normal consumption of water supplied and wastewater treated of up to 38,000 litres per annum, with the level of consumption underpinning this allowance to be verified from actual metering data;

- the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government intends using his powers under the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013, to issue a policy direction to the CER requiring:

- the domestic water charging regime to remain fixed until end-2016;

- that, for social and environmental reasons, there should be no standing charge for domestic customers - there may be a minimum charge applied to properties that are not permanently occupied, for example, holiday homes;

- assessed charges to be based primarily on occupancy and possibly refined based on data from metered usage to ensure that they are as close a proxy for metered usage as possible;

- the CER to ensure provision for retrospective adjustment of charges including a rebate above a reasonable threshold in the context of transitional arrangements for people moving from assessed to metered charges;

- charges to be capped for people with high water usage due to certain medical conditions; and

- Irish Water to take account of the quality of services provided for customers, including circumstances where services are reduced or restricted, for example, due to boil water notices;

commitment to a package of supporting measures under the social protection regime to assist particular groups; and

intention to provide funding to increase investment in public water services infrastructure by €100 million in each of the years 2015 and 2016, including for a scheme to provide each household with a free fix of the first leak on a customer's water supply pipe;

supports the Government's overall water funding package, which balances the need for a sustainable funding model to support long-term investment in the sector, taking account of the relevant European rules on Government accounting, while ensuring that domestic water charges are introduced in the most affordable, fair and equitable manner possible; and

welcomes the timely announcement of the package of measures, which responds to the Government commitment to provide early visibility in relation to the level of water charges, in advance of the final determination on charges by the CER, following detailed examination of Irish Water's cost base.

I wish to share time with Deputy John O'Mahony.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

The programme for Government contained commitments in respect of a comprehensive programme of reform of the structures for delivering State services which included plans for the overhaul of the delivery of water services. The Government's programme of reform of water services is a vital step towards ensuring the sustainability of Ireland's water resources. The people of Ireland deserve first class water services and a system in which the drinking water they are supplied with is safe and wholesome. It is also critical that wastewater be treated effectively to avoid causing pollution to watercourses and beaches. We also need to ensure there is security of supply in order to attract investment in towns and cities throughout the country. This is also critical to economic growth as a reliable water supply will promote economic competitiveness and, in particular, can assist in promoting and attracting water-intensive industries such as ICT, pharma-chem and agrifood companies.

The programme for Government recognised the need for modernisation and committed to the introduction of a fair funding model, the establishment of a new water utility, Irish Water, and the implementation of a fair charging system based on usage above a free allowance. It is clear that the Government is delivering on these commitments. In July 2013 Irish Water was established as a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Energy which has saved €80 million to date. Moving from the previous fragmented approach, where water services were provided by 34 separate local authorities, is an important milestone in the reform programme. We cannot continue with a situation where €1.2 billion of taxpayers' money is being spent each year, with 40% of the water leaking away into the ground. Irish Water will provide a co-ordinated national approach, with a focus on reducing operational costs and achieving economies of scale in service delivery. A co-ordinated national approach will allow major cost savings through achieving economies of scale in service delivery and for targeted reduction of the unacceptable levels of treated drinking water being lost through the water mains. The integrated utility model being put in place by Irish Water will provide the basis for the new utility to borrow from the capital markets, in the same way as other utilities, fund an accelerated capital programme and address infrastructural deficits.

Fianna Fáil's solution, of course, is to continue as we are and ignore the need for greater expenditure. It fails to point to where it will get the money to provide for a more ambitious capital programme. Would it be through higher taxes on income or through cuts in expenditure in the areas of health, education or social protection? It cannot have it every way. This is the model we have taken in order to borrow money so as to ensure we can continue to invest to ensure job creation, stability and growth on the basis that we will not increase taxes on work or incur additional cuts in expenditure over and above what is included in the troika agreement.

In July 2013 Irish Water commenced work on the domestic water metering programme. The installation of meters provides for a fair way of charging households for water services. People will be charged based on what they use and provided with an incentive to use water efficiently. The international evidence shows that where meters are introduced, savings in excess of 10% can be expected. This is a major capital project which will see water meters installed in over 1 million homes by 2016. It is also an incredibly ambitious programme, with the level of meter installation far in excess of that for similar programmes being undertaken by water companies in other parts of the European Union. For example, Southern Water in the United Kingdom is implementing a 500,000 meter installation programme over five years, while up to 450,000 meters will have been installed by Irish Water in the first 17 months of its programme. Notwithstanding this, the roll-out of the metering programme has taken account of supply chain availability, quality control, health and safety issues and the practical need to minimise disruption to pedestrians and motorists. Already, over 200,000 meters have been installed by Irish Water since the commencement of the metering programme. The programme has also had a significant employment spin-off, with 1,150 jobs created so far. Irish Water made a number of social inclusion commitments at the outset of the programme and, as a result, 57% of the jobs created have gone to SMEs, 22% to people who were previously on the live register and a further 8% to graduates, apprentices and school leavers. Irish Water has committed to accelerating the metering programme such that it will be completed in mid-2016 rather than at the end of that year. This will mean that up to 450,000 meters will be installed by the end of 2014, a very significant achievement, and that approximately 1.05 million meters will be installed by mid-2016.

Approximately 300,000 properties are not being addressed as part of the current programme. They include apartment blocks and other multi-occupancy buildings, houses with shared service connections and properties where the connection to the mains cannot be identified. In order to increase metering penetration, Irish Water commissioned a study to examine ways of metering these categories of property. My Department is exploring with Irish Water the potential to include a new phase which could involve metering approximately 48,000 apartments identified by the report as being feasible for cost-effective metering. In addition, a programme will be finalised in the coming weeks to allow customers to "opt-in", where the householders know or can identify a connection point.

Water charges for households will be introduced on 1 October 2014, with the first bills to be issued after 1 January 2015. In order to protect the interests of customers, the Government has established an independent economic regulator for water services within the Commission for Energy Regulation. The role of the regulator is set out in the Water Services Acts 2013 and the legislation specifically requires the regulator to perform its functions in a manner that best serves the interests of the customers of Irish Water. Under the legislation, Irish Water's tariffs must be set out in a water charges plan which will be subject to the approval of the regulator. The regulator will undertake extensive public consultation before making a final determination on the level of tariffs. Last month the regulator commenced a public consultation process on the structure and design of tariffs for both households and non-domestic users. The regulator will be undertaking further consultations in June before announcing the details of the tariffs in August this year.

The regulator also has wider role in customer protection. Under the Water Services Act, Irish Water is required to prepare and submit codes of practice to the commission. These codes of practice will address matters such as standards in Irish Water's services; billing by Irish Water; methods of payment; the provision of information for customers; and the standards of service customers should expect. The regulator also has the power to direct Irish Water to prepare a code of practice on any matter the regulator considers necessary to protect the interests of the customers of Irish Water.

Is it not refreshing to have some honesty in politics at last and clarity on this issue of water charging? Paddy now knows what the charge will be. It is galling to listen to the hypocritical cant from people like Deputy Niall Collins who talked about cynicism. Fianna Fáil invented the words "political cynicism" and is stating the complete opposite to what its leader signed the country up to when he signed the memorandum of understanding in 2010. Earlier today the Government agreed the details of the funding model for Irish Water, including a range of measures to support the affordability of water charges. First and foremost, the subvention to be paid to Irish Water in 2015 and 2016 will be conditional on the average domestic charge per household not exceeding €240 per year. Each household will receive a very generous allowance of 30,000 litres of drinking water and a corresponding wastewater allowance each year. An additional free allowance up to 38,000 litres per annum will be provided for households for each child under the age of 18 years.

This is based on a child's normal consumption of water but the level of consumption underpinning the allowance will be verified by actual metering data. The result of the additional free allowance for children is that water charges will effectively only apply to adults. Those free allowances and affordability measures will continue post-2016.

What about those over 18 who are in college?

What about the €400 that the previous Government was going to charge everybody in 2010? Fianna Fáil's leader signed up to it. People are able to read. They are not stupid.

The subsidy provided to members of group water schemes will be adjusted to be aligned with the free allowance approach for public water supplies. This will ensure that the sector receives equivalent support while at the same time allowing for transitional actions which may be required to sustain improvements in water quality. Fianna Fáil can scrap the canvassing literature where it says that rural people will have to pay these water charges. There will be no charge on private wells or for those on group water schemes who get their water from private water sources. It is my intention to use the powers provided to me under the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 to issue a statutory direction to the regulator requiring it to take a number of issues into account to ensure that charges are implemented in a manner that is fair and equitable. This will include fixing the first domestic water tariffs it approves until the end of 2016. It will also reflect the Government decision that charges should be capped for people with high water usage due to medical conditions. The precise conditions of this will be determined in consultation with the Minister for Health. The direction will also require that for social and environmental reasons there should be no standing charge for domestic customers, but there may be a minimum charge for properties that are not permanently occupied - for example, holiday homes. The direction will also address the need for assessed charges for customers who have not been metered by the time charges commence to be based primarily on occupancy to ensure they are as close a proxy for metered usage as possible. The assessed charges will be refined if required as more and more properties are metered and consumption data become available. The direction will also address the need for the CER to make provision for retrospective adjustment of charges, including rebates - above a reasonable threshold - in the context of transitional arrangements for customers who are moving from assessed charges to metered charges and the need for Irish Water to take account of the quality of services it provides to customers, including circumstances in which services are reduced or restricted - for example, due to boil water notices.

The Government recognises that the domestic metering programme will highlight a significant number of properties where water usage is very high due to leakages on the property. To support water conservation and prevent households from being faced with large water bills, Irish Water will be introducing a first fix scheme which will provide each household with a free fix of the first leak on the customer's water supply pipe. The cost of this programme is estimated at €51 million. The announcement today provides certainty to households around the level of water charges that will be involved when the first bills are issued next year. An average charge of €240 for domestic customers in Ireland will compare very favourably internationally. In tandem with agreeing the level of Government subvention to Irish Water for 2015 and 2016 which will ensure that the average tariff does not exceed this level, the Government has also agreed to provide funding to Irish Water in 2015 and 2016 to allow for a more ambitious capital investment programme. It has been agreed that this programme will be increased by €200 million over the next two years. This demonstrates the commitment of the Government to accelerate investment in our water services infrastructure to deal with the historical deficits bequeathed to this Government by its predecessors and provide a reformed water sector with a greater resilience and level of quality.

Before I conclude, it is worth recalling that when this Government took office we were required to implement commitments given by the previous Government to the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank. One of those commitments provided for the introduction of domestic water charges with no provision for metering by the end of 2012. This Government decided that water charges should be based on metered consumption, as this is the fairest way to charge for water, and we have put in place the measures and structures to achieve this. We also secured agreement to defer the introduction of water charges until the final quarter of 2014 rather than 2012, which was the year in which the previous Government thought they should be implemented.

I will conclude by saying that, like the commitments contained in the programme for Government, the commitments that were made to provide clarity on the level of charges have been honoured. This Government has delivered on its plans for reform and will continue to deliver with the aim of ensuring we have a first-class water services and one which is affordable for consumers.

I am glad to have the opportunity to debate and contribute to this motion on water charges and the implementation of a model of funding for water charges agreed between the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and the troika way back in 2010. I very much welcome the clarity the Minister has brought to the subject. Coming from a constituency in rural Ireland, I am frequently asked about group water schemes and people who are not on the public water supply. It has been clarified that such people will not pay water charges. In some respects, water charges were implemented many years ago in rural Ireland with these group water schemes, but it is important that this clarification was given tonight.

I very much welcome the announcement by the Government earlier today relating to the average charge, which is far less than the figure of €400 per annum suggested by the previous Government. I understand it was also suggested previously that there would be no allowances. It is a pity that any charges must be implemented, but given the financial situation the country has found itself in, we will be like all other countries in Europe that have water charges.

I also welcome the fact that there will be free water allowances for children and that vulnerable groups with medical conditions, people living alone or those with lower incomes were taken into account in the announcements today. That is very important. I have been listening for the past month or two to people saying there would be no announcements until after the local and European elections. I welcome the fact that there is now clarity on the matter. There should also be clarity on an ongoing basis between now and the end of the year because in many respects it is only when people go to write a cheque or pay some charge that they focus on how these charges are to be paid, and many questions come up at that stage. We have seen this with the household charge and the property tax, so it is important that there be a continuous system of information setting out clear amounts and ways to pay.

The additional €200 million that will be invested over the next two years is the least that is needed to fix leaks and improve the standard of water. I note that the Sinn Féin motion calls for water rates to be basically scrapped. I would not have a major problem with that if there was a property charge akin to that paid in the Six Counties.

They may be services, but at the end of the day they are far more than anything that is being paid on property down here. I would say they would adequately replace the charges or funding model for water charges that we are introducing here. I talk to people up there who pay between £1,200 and £1,500 per annum.

They must have big houses.

Perhaps they have. Sinn Féin now states that it put off individual water charges to houses until after 2016, so does that mean that people in Northern Ireland will be paying water charges in addition to the sums of £1,200 and £1,500 they are paying at the moment? Clarity is needed in Northern Ireland as well, and I hope that when Sinn Féin debates this, it will clarify the situation.

The announcement today is welcome, but there is a need for further information as the year goes on so that people are clear about the situation.

A good suggestion was made to me recently which should be considered, that is, the putting in place of a facility to allow people to pay as they use water. In that way, people would not have a significant bill coming in every quarter. Such a payment option would allow people to have more control over the size of their bills. This suggestion was made to Irish Water but received a negative response. I ask the Minister to raise this matter with Irish Water again because it is an option that some people would take. As I understand it, next January a property tax bill and a water charges bill will arrive in people's homes at almost the same time. There is a need to stagger those two bills, particularly in the context of what is an expensive time for a lot of households, following the Christmas period. Some fine tuning of the bills is required.

As Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, I wish to raise the issue of the post offices and the sustainability of the post office network. I welcome the recent announcement by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources that he will encourage all Departments to make as much use of the post office network as possible. The post office network has done a tremendous job with the passport service and with facilitating payment of property tax bills. I hope that the post offices will be allowed to deliver a water charges payment service to the same standard as the other services it provides.

I will conclude now by saying that while I welcome the clarity provided today, there is a need for continued clarity between now and January 2015.

In response to Deputy O'Mahony, in 2008 it was a Sinn Féin Minister who abolished water charges in the North. It is a power-sharing Executive in the North and not a Government as we understand it in this State. We are using our contacts in the other parties to try to retain that position. I would urge Deputy O'Mahony - seeing as he is showing concern for the good people of the Six Counties in the north-east corner of Ireland - to use his influence with any contacts he may have in the SDLP, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Alliance Party or any of the other parties with whom we share power in the North. It is a power-sharing arrangement and I am happy to explain that to Deputy O'Mahony because perhaps he was not aware of it. If he has any contacts in those parties I would urge him to do the same as what Sinn Féin is doing.

I certainly will and would welcome any reduction in charges.

In fact, his party might even decide to run for election in the North. I wanted to put that issue to bed before speaking on the substantive issue.

I am speaking in support of our amendment which calls for the scrapping of water charges and the return of control of water services to democratically elected, reformed local authorities rather than leaving it in the hands of the corporate monster that Irish Water is becoming. We also call for a statutory assurance that water services will not be privatised in the future. Many members of the public suspect that once the cash register goes into the footpath outside their front door, the threat of privatisation is there. I have heard politicians say in the past that Bord Gais and many other State bodies would not be privatised but we have seen what happened in that regard.

While I welcome the fact that Fianna Fáil has tabled this motion and allowed more time to debate the issues surrounding water, we should not forget the fact that it was that party which agreed to establish a separate utility and to introduce water charges. Now we have some Fianna Fáil candidates in this State saying they want to abolish water charges and I have seen public meetings advertised to that effect. Back in December 2010 a memorandum of understanding was put in place and the then Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government agreed to establish a new entity, to take the control of water services away from local authorities and to introduce water charges. It is a bit hypocritical of Fianna Fáil to pretend that it is now concerned about the impact of water charges on householders, many of whom are already struggling to keep their heads above water.

It is also true, as the current Government spokespersons have said, that Fianna Fáil would have implemented water charges at a much higher rate and much sooner, in 2012. That is a fact and is on the record. These are not my words - Fianna Fáil put them on paper. It is also worth pointing out that the Labour Party promised, during the 2011 election campaign, to prevent Fine Gael from going ahead with its commitment to introduce an average annual domestic charge of €238. Indeed, it ran Tesco-style advertisements prior to the general election lambasting the proposals of its now partners-in-government to levy a water tax and highlighting how the Labour Party would stop them. Not only did the Labour Party not stop them; the average charge being talked about now is €2 higher than the rate the party promised to prevent being imposed. The party has retreated so far from the high moral ground it sought to occupy in 2011 that it is now boasting about having introduced a charge which it said it was totally opposed to in the first place.

The rate at which Fianna Fáil was planning to charge for water reflects the overall cost of the running of our water services. The average rate proposed by the Government would only cover half of that. It has said that the shortfall will be made up initially by subvention, taken either from the local property tax or the Exchequer. How will the costs be met in future years? Will the local property tax be used every year to prop up and support Irish Water and the monster it is becoming? It is already the case that the local property tax fund, which was meant to pay for local amenities such as footpaths, public lighting, libraries and parks - I have heard those words from Deputy Hogan, the Taoiseach and others on the Government benches countless times in the last two years - has been taken away from the local authorities and 85% of it, or €486 million, is being used to subvent Irish Water. In effect, for the first year at least, householders are paying two new taxes. The real average cost initially will not be an average of €240 but a combination of the two charges - the property tax and the water charges. Add them together and one arrives at the total figure that people will pay for this service.

The troika, with Fianna Fáil acquiescence, was looking for a charge of up to €500 or more to cover the full cost of providing water services for domestic and commercial users. The EU Water Framework Directive insists that this must happen. This State had a derogation since 1997 from the directive. Does that derogation still exist? Annexe 3 of Article 9 sets out that member states must conduct an economic analysis to determine the rate at which the cost of water supply and waste disposal be charged to households, agriculture and industry. Has such an analysis been conducted here? What findings did it come up with? I would suggest that such an analysis would provide a much more definite guide to what people will end up paying than the average suggested here today. The economist Richard Tol, writing in The Sunday Business Post, calculated that if the EU insisted that all of the cost of providing water services be accounted for through water charges, the average charge per household would be more like €560. How then can the Minister propose that the average charge of €240 per household, with a further €200 million in commercial rates, is adequate to pay for the overall cost of running Irish Water? This does not even take account of the millions in legacy debt which will be taken on by Irish Water, money which was borrowed in the past for the upkeep of water services.

The hangover from expensive PPPs is still there, including 30-year contracts brought in during the boom years at boom-time prices. I know the Government cannot do anything about that, but the legacy is still there.

Many people will be initially pleased by the promise that households will receive 30,000 litres free every year but the average household use, based on a family of four, is six times that figure. Given that the average rate charge for any usage above 30,000 will have to increase, many people will inevitably pay far more than the €240 suggested by the Minister.

Averages are a poor guide to anything. If one household is paying €120 while another pays €360, it makes an average of €240. That is the way it will be, but it is a meaningless figure that bears no relation whatsoever to what people are actually paying. That is what will happen with water charges. Some people, depending on the composition of their household and other factors, will end up paying vastly more than we are being led to believe.

I do not buy the claim from Labour that the so-called concessions they extracted are based on social justice. I accept there will be exemptions for people with medical conditions and a couple of other exemptions within narrow parameters. Outside of that, however, there are no indications as to where the burden will fall. Neither is there any indication of how the shortfall in charges and the absence of a standing charge will be made up. There are growing legions of people on low pay, including thousands of workers on zero-hour contracts. Some of them are not even getting the minimum wage because, although they may have been in a job for two years, they are told that they are training. They are still being paid €7 or €7.50 an hour, but employers get around it by claiming they are training. They are being trained to do the most menial jobs that a person could learn in half a day or, in some cases, half an hour.

There is no reprieve for the unemployed or those on low pay. Neither is there any reprieve for those struggling to pay mortgages. The shortfall will have to be made up by charging a higher rate, which is a key point that the Minister is not telling people about. There will be a higher rate for the quantity of water used that exceeds the free allowance. It is no more than a smoke and mirrors job. The Government is just moving the figures around and holding back until after the election.

We have seen promises before to exempt those on low incomes from bin charges, for example, but they were not kept. Under this Government, the experience of people is that once a new tax or cut is implemented the impact will become more, not less, as time goes on. The proposed waiver scheme is simply a ploy. It is a fig-leaf to get the Government parties, and particularly the Labour Party, through the election. Like the waiver scheme for waste collection, it will disappear, as it did in the counties where that existed previously.

For the past two or three weeks, Ministers have been at the Cabinet table discussing the pressure on the Labour Party rather than the pressure on households. That is what they have been debating in the corridors of Leinster House. The issue has not been the pressure on households or low-paid workers, but the pressure on the Government parties, particularly Labour, in the run up to the elections.

The figures are there. The Government is wasting €530 million putting meters outside front doors. The Tánaiste said that as there is currently a loss of water of about 40% in the system, the structure of the charging regime would encourage incentivised conservation. Somebody should tell the Tánaiste that the 40% is being lost out of the mains network. That is what all the engineers are saying. How will charging the householder at the other end of the system stop those leaks two or three miles down the road? How will that happen? I have never read such a statement in all my life.

Today, the Minister, Deputy Hogan, said there would be an additional €200 million over two years for Irish Water's capital investment to include a free first-fix scheme providing each household with a free fix of the first leak on a customer's water supply pipe. Irish Water will be outlining its proposed capital programme, subject to CER approval, in the coming weeks. Can the Minister tell me what that extends to? Is it 2 m of the pipe beyond the stop-cock? Is it as far as the front or back wall of a house? What exactly does that mean? It seems deliberately vague to me. People reading that today may feel happy but when they see what it actually means they will find that a very restrictive scheme is being put in place. It is a sop to soften any opposition to what is being done.

The cost of this includes €530 million on meters and €180 million setting up the corporate monster that is Irish Water, yet not one leak has been fixed as a result of that expenditure. There will be a call centre with hundreds of workers. As I understand it, 500 new staff are being employed in Uisce Éireann, some of whom will earn over €100,000 a year. That is on top of an existing local authority system. We already have the call centres. They are called Áras an Chontae or Áras an Chathair. Clerical, administrative and engineering staff are already there in the local authorities' water services, yet the Government has created a corporate monster which is being superimposed on those structures. It has turned local authorities into mere subcontractors to be hired and fired.

The councillors who will be democratically elected in a couple of weeks time will be given the number of a call centre to contact. Those are the facts of it. Up to now, councillors quite rightly had a direct input into making water services plans. Deputies could make representations to county managers. However, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour have joined hands together to set up a separate structure. In some other countries, water services have been taken back under the control of local authorities because this is a fragmented service. It cannot be managed centrally unless one injects huge amounts of money into a large bureaucracy. It is a fragmented service because every county has hundreds of water sources. The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, knows that coming from Sligo, while Deputy John Browne from Wexford knows it also. I know it is the case, coming from Laois-Offaly.

There are hundreds of small and large water schemes, which cannot be run centrally unless it is done by a huge bureaucracy. That is what the Government is creating but it should return control of water to reformed local authorities. That power should be given back to local authorities, rather than wasting money on meters and establishing Uisce Éireann. We need to fix the leaks.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on water charges. Some people may say that we have to pay for water usage and that we cannot continue to have free water, but we never had free water in this country. The €1.2 billion cost of producing water across the country has been paid for all along by central taxation, so there has never been free water. Car tax contributed to water services, so will we get a reduction in motor taxation due to the introduction of water tax? No, we will not.

Water tax is being introduced to allow the Government to pay the €9 billion in interest payments on the unjustified bank debt that every one of us must carry as a burden. Therefore there is no such thing as free water because we have been paying for it already. We will now be paying for it on the double because of the introduction of water charges.

Over the last three weeks or so, we have been treated to the charade of the Labour Party throwing its toys out of the pram in Cabinet and wanting to get what it calls benefits for people who cannot afford water charges. We have seen the rigmarole of today's agreement on water charges.

What we see out of the agreement is that the average charge per house for water in 2015 will be the same as was suggested four weeks ago - that is, €240 per house. In fact, it has gone up by €2 from the initial figure of €238. There has been no change. The average cost of water per house will still be €240. All the Government has done is to give a small consideration to people who must use extra water because of illness. People who cannot afford to pay water charges will have the privilege of going to the community welfare officer to ask for some discretionary contribution to the cost of water bills. The same system is already in place for people's ESB and other utility bills and it has proven extremely difficult for them to obtain support from community welfare officers. It will be just as difficult for someone to get support in paying their water charges. There has been no concession for people who will have difficulty paying. There is nothing in the scheme for them.

The Government has made much play of the fact that there will be 30,000 litres of free water for each household. I heard the Minister refer earlier to how generous the allocation is. It is interesting to look at existing commercial customers which have a domestic element in their billing process. Their free allowance at the moment is 227,000 litres. Those who are already paying water charges - commercial customers with a domestic element - will see their free allowance reduced by a factor of 7.5. A couple living in rural Ireland offering bed and breakfast accommodation which is metered by the local authority will see their free allowance reduced from 227,000 litres to 30,000. This is the extremely generous allowance the Government has implemented. It means those people will pay more for their water supply in 2015 than they did this year. Much has been made by IBEC and other business interests of how commercial water charges will have to be reduced now that Irish Water has come into play. However, people with a commercial element in their water bills who live over the shop, pub or post office or operate a small bed and breakfast will see their charges increase significantly because the Government has wiped out the free allowance that is already there. Why was that allowance not used as the model for delivering a free allowance nationally?

If one takes the average charge of €240, Irish Water's own figures, circulated today in a frequently-asked-questions document, show that we will have a unit price of approximately €2.25 per cubic meter. That is the price the CER will come out with in the coming months.

Debate adjourned.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.05 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 7 May 2014.
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