Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think that on top of the other difficulties, the problem is that the Taoiseach, on behalf of the Government, gives very opaque and obscure answers to very straight questions. If Deputies will pardon the pun, there seems to be a drip, drip, drip attitude to our attempts to get answers. Contrary to what the Government is saying, we know that Uisce Éireann is seeking to impose a standing charge of one third of its water bill. That is what it is looking for. We know that is very high by comparison with charges in other states. This charge is as low as 10% elsewhere. This is about the introduction of another tax. The introduction of water charges is entirely a revenue-raising exercise and nothing less. We have seen estimates suggesting that the average water bill could be as high as €300. That would be on top of all the other bills people have to face. The Taoiseach knows that many people are struggling and are angry that Uisce Éireann gave €86 million of taxpayers' money to consultants.

The Government told citizens from the very beginning that this whole issue was about conserving water. It said that most of the water bill of each citizen would be based on the amount of water used. The idea was that this would be an incentive to control water use. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that the higher the standing charge, the worse it is for water conservation and for householders. There can be no doubt that Uisce Éireann is looking for this standing charge of one third. That is a fact. Can the Taoiseach assure the Dáil that this is unacceptable? Does he agree with me that this proposal should be rejected by the energy regulator? Can he not tell us here and now when the Dáil and householders will be given a clear idea of how much they will have to pay in water charges?

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