Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Ms Graham's presentation gives a figure of €173.76 million which has been collected in water charges so far, while a significant figure has not been collected. The Public Water Forum stated that equity must apply to both those who paid the charges and those who did not pay, though it states that it has not had the opportunity to look at the issue in detail yet. It is an issue we need to address under equity and fairness and my view is that people who have paid should be repaid if there is no intention of pursuing those who have not paid. Do the witnesses from the Public Water Forum have any comments on that?

The document of the Public Water Forum refers to an adequate allowance for personal use and suggests a differential charge would apply for all users above the mean. It states that the forum finds it difficult to conceptualise ways in which this could be applied where all households are not metered. This is the crux of the issue for us and the question of metering as against not metering comes into the equity and fairness topic too. If there is to be a charge for excessive use, how is that calculated? Yesterday, the Right2Water group said it was in favour of charging for excessive use. Many of us are now in favour of charging for excessive use. Do the witnesses have any further views on how that can be done? We will have to deal with this as a committee.

The Public Water Forum also suggested the use of water bonds for funding water provision. Perhaps the witnesses can comment on that.