Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said earlier, I oppose the Bill in its entirety, not because I disagree with the concept of water charges, but because of the lack of information pertaining to the financial costs associated with this. Ultimately, this lack of information bars us from making a judgment with regard to free allowances and so on and so forth.

On the specific issue, section 12(1)(c) says the aggregate borrowings of the board and its subsidiary under this subsection shall not exceed €500 million. This interim Bill is being introduced in order to allow Irish Water commence metering. Therefore, does this limit on borrowing suggest that the cost of metering will not exceed €500 million? If that is the case, surely the Minister of State can indicate how this will be capitalised and what it means for houseowners with regard to how they will pay. How is this money to be repaid to the National Pensions Reserve Fund, if that is where it is borrowed from? Is it the case that this being an interim measure to give Irish Water the authority and wherewithal to commence metering, the next Bill the Department brings forward will also contain other powers allowing Irish Water to borrow? Having completed the audit, will it cap those borrowings against the cost of upgrade of the system? Will it cap the borrowings to provide resolution to the situation in Dublin? Will it provide annual maintenance cost borrowings into the future and for how long? If this subsection in part measures the cost, will the next Bill have these costs maximising the amount of borrowings which are required within such a subsection? How is the money to be repaid to the National Pensions Reserve Fund? This being the case, it gives us an indication of what each household will be charged for this element, the metering costs.