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

I have to adhere to that. My first point concerns flat rate charges. There has been a delay in the timescale but there will be no delay in charging, although Mr. McGowan did not allude to that. We know that about 1 million homes will not be metered when charges are introduced, despite the fact that €530 million will have been spent on metering. Mr. McGowan said he hoped to put structures in place for rebates on homes that may be overcharged when one compares the assessed charge with the actual charge when the metering system is put in place. What examples or models of assessment - or countries where such assessment takes place - has Mr. McGowan investigated in order to arrive at his decision in this regard? In other words, what real examples on the ground can Mr. McGowan point to which show that the occupancy and potential water usage of a house is being properly assessed, and so that people can have faith and confidence in his decision on flat rate charging?

My second point concerns the quality of water supply, which is something to which Mr. McGowan alluded during his presentation. He said he was looking at a 50% reduction on the element of water within that bill, which is essentially a 25% reduction.

Mr. McGowan says that the CER may allow for further reductions where a boil notice has existed for a certain length of time, if there is a risk of lead poisoning. Given the difficulties that exist in the country, should the CER not have a more definitive idea of how any such assessment in that area would be addressed? Is that any comfort to the people in Roscommon for example? I acknowledge that rectification measures will be taken in the coming years but meanwhile they, and others like them, would need a more definitive response from the CER. Consumers do not have much faith in the CER’s role and they question its standing when they see that in the past somebody who looked for a 7.5% increase got an 8.5% increase. It has a job to do to obtain people’s trust. A comment that lacks clarity about a process that is over two years old needs to be addressed.

In respect of medical requirements, Mr. McGowan says the CER will be guided by Government on the detail and impact of medical requirements provisions. At what point will the cap be set? Does he have an opinion on this or is he totally dependent on Government direction? Someone who has home dialysis needs clarity and a definitive indication from the CER, even in the absence of any submission from Irish Water, that it has case studies from other jurisdictions where best practice exists, which will be implemented in this State.

Initially it was thought that there would be a standing charge and that was dropped for political reasons. I have since studied the indicative pricing mechanism that has been mentioned, which suggests the prices might be higher. A representative of Irish Water said at the time that, irrespective of there being a standing charge, it will receive the sort of funding it expected anyhow. Does Mr. McGowan have any concerns that, in the absence of a standing charge, Irish Water will struggle to attract international investment and, if so, will struggle to implement the commitment it has given to the electorate to address the deficiencies in the systems? In what circumstances can the charges be finalised in August and not be amended before the end of 2016? Is that subject to a ministerial direction? If this is set in stone do we have a guarantee that the CER will not interfere with it until 2016?

The cost is approximately €1.2 billion per annum with €700 million going on capital expenditure and €500 million on capital investment. The Government has yet to outline how much it will provide to subsidise Irish Water. This year, for example, €500 million was raised from local property tax, which had been earmarked for local government but was diverted to Irish Water. The Government has yet to outline how much money it will pour in to enable it to carry out significant infrastructural investment. In the absence of that commitment on the subsidy is the CER operating in the dark? If Mr. McGowan cannot answer my previous question about international investment is he doubly worried that the Government has not made a funding commitment to date?