Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are a multiplicity of issues around water, on how we pay for it, how it is delivered. The point of setting up a commission and also having a special Oireachtas committee to look at all those issues are that some issues the Deputy raises now can be teased out.

What we are trying to facilitate now is a very simple piece of amending legislation that allows for the suspension of water charges for a nine month period to create space for that process to proceed. We are not attempting to legislate for all of the solutions in different areas. We are simply following through on a commitment that was made during the competence and supply discussions with Fianna Fáil, to which we are also committed and we hope others will work with this to follow through on what we committed to do early in the lifetime of the Government, that is to suspend water charges so as to create space to have discussions around a range of issues that are linked to it. That is all we are trying to do here. This Billis two to three pages of legislation. It is not attempting to do a whole series of other things, such as reassurance of public ownership and so . They are other issues that can be teased out at a later stage.