Mr. David Gibney:

The 2007 Act provides that local councils can write to people who abuse water or over use water and ask them to address their behaviour. As far as I am aware, local councils can prosecute them if they do not take action. Provisions already exist.

In terms of swimming pools, I live in a community that does not have a swimming pool and I do not know anyone who owns a swimming pool. Right2Water is not opposed to the Government introducing a swimming pool tax. There might be a provision in terms of commercial water charges and taxes.

If we want to address waste then let us address areas where water is wasted. As much as 41% of water is lost through leaks. The Government instead of funding measures to address the leakage problem has funded the installation of unnecessary and unwanted water meters. Household water meters have shown up approximately 3% of the leaks. Therefore, the remaining 97% is not on the household side. I disagree with the report's claim that wastage happens in households. The wastage is due to leakages across the country. As much as €1 billion or whatever has been spent on water meters. Had we spent the money on addressing the leakage problem we would have addressed the crisis in the water services.

There is a provision in the 2007 Act. It is a false argument to claim that households are wasteful. We contend that they are not wasteful and there is no evidence to support the claim. In fact, Ireland conserves more water than almost any other country in Europe.