Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to be as brief as possible. We are learning a good deal here today, including, essentially, that meters, whether they are district or household, are not only in place for charging but for capturing critical data and identifying leaks, as well as to benefit water conservation behaviour.

Some of the questions I intended to ask have already been answered, so I will not go over them again. From listening to public debate on this issue up to now, one would get the impression that there was no district metering but I am glad it has been put on the record that substantial district metering is already in place. It is disappointing that there is still more than 45% leakage from the system even with that in place. Is metering required specifically on connections to drive down a reduction in leakage around the country? Has Irish Water a national monitoring and control system to identify leaks? If it has, does that cover all networks in terms of alarms and all so on? Did that exist prior to Irish Water being established or did local authorities do different things? What has been Irish Water's experience where leaks have been identified on metered households? What has been the response from householders? Did they act on it and stop the leak or did they leave it continue? I would be interested to get a response to that question.

In its recommendations the expert commission advised that, where possible, a charge for excessive use beyond normal usage be introduced. The committee will require advice from the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, on this issue. In the CER's view, how would this excess charge be implemented without meters? That is a critical and fundamental question the committee needs to have answered.

With regard to value for money for the taxpayer and the cost per consumer for the provision of a public water supply, again the CER plays a critical role in protecting the consumer and ensuring moneys are invested wisely. Irrespective of how it is paid for, whether it is through a charging system or general taxation, from what I have heard so far in today's debate is that metering benefits conservation, leakage identification and consumer behaviour. Is there a value put on that from the CER's perspective? If so, is there a provision or a recommendation that metering in the longer term would be more cost effective for the taxpayer because it would identify leaks and encourage conservation?

The CER stated earlier that where new houses are connected to the water supply, it would recommend a meter be installed. As there is network renewal and replacement going on with main services, as well as lead pipe replacement, would it not be more cost efficient when installing new pipework to also install a meter? It would save duplicate visits to a site and provide opportunities to capture data and more network details for management, as well as feeding into conservation behaviour.